Executive MBA Program Course Descriptions

EMBA 600 – Management Seminar

The Executive Management Seminar is comprised of many activities exercises, cases, and simulations, all of which are integrated to provide you with an introduction to self-awareness and leadership for executive students.  The course provides you with the opportunity to learn about and experience first-hand the many complexities in the roles of top leaders and managers.  The course is designed using experiential educational processes that help illustrate highly valuable insights and learning students can apply to their own leadership development. 

EMBA 610 – Organizational Behavior

The course explores human behavior and the overall functioning of organizational structures on three levels:  the individual, the group, and the organization.  Theoretical bases of behavior are used to provide understanding of people’s attitudes, motives, and behaviors in organizational settings.

EMBA 620 – Marketing Analytics

This course introduces the general concepts and managerial applications of descriptive and inferential statistics using evidence from judgment, samples and processes. It includes basic probability theory, with applications of the Binomial, Poisson, Normal and Chi-Squared distributions; and the use of contingency tables, conditional probabilities, and tests of statistical significance.  It also introduces multivariate analysis with linear, nonlinear and multiple regression, with exercises in data mining with large data files.  MS Excel is used throughout the topics. 

EMBA 625 - Operations Management

Operations Management is the systematic direction and control of the processes that transform inputs into finished goods and services. These goods and services have characteristics that distinguish them in the marketplace, such as high quality, low cost, or rapid delivery. This course introduces the concepts and analytical methods that are useful in understanding management issues in manufacturing and service industries. Topics covered include manufacturing and service operations, supply chain management, total quality management, and forecasting.

EMBA 630 – Economic Analysis for Managers I

This course develops the basic tools of microeconomic analysis with emphasis on business decision-making on organizational performance and competitiveness with respect to domestic and international business.  Microeconomic topics covered include the price system, supply, and demand, market equilibrium, elasticity, utility theory and consumer choice, short-run and long-run costs and their impact on output decisions in perfect and imperfect markets, and the economics of labor markets, and other factor inputs in the production process.

EMBA 630 – Economic Analysis for Managers II

This course develops the basic tools of macroeconomic analysis with emphasis on business decision-making on organizational performance and competitiveness with respect to domestic and international business.  Macroeconomic topics covered include national output and income, inflation, unemployment, personal consumption and government expenditures, business investment, the Federal Reserve System, money supply and demand, monetary policy, interest rates, aggregate demand and supply, supply side economics, international trade, comparative advantage, and the balance of payments, and exchange rates.

EMBA 640 - Corporate Financial Reporting & Control

The course deals with the structure and information content of the three principal financial statements of profit-directed companies: the income statement, balance sheet, and statement of cash flows. It develops skills in the use of accounting information to analyze the performance and financial condition of a company and to facilitate decision-making, planning and budgeting, and performance appraisal in a managerial context. Students with no prior background in accounting complete a programmed instruction in the mechanics of double entry accounting at the start of the course.  

EMBA 650 - Value-Based Financial Management I and II

This course introduces the basic principles of corporate finance. The main focus of the course is on fundamental principles such as time value of money, asset valuation, and risk and return trade-off. Topics covered also include cost of capital, capital budgeting, and capital structure.

 

EMBA 660 - Marketing: The Challenge of Managing Value

Marketing is changing -- constantly driven by dramatic technology developments, globalization, and evolving consumption values, practices, and lifestyles. This course covers marketing themes, theories, and trends that are critical for superior business performance in the 21st century. In this course, we examine current marketing theory as it is being shaped by forward-thinking academics and new developments in business practices. This course provides students with a strong foundation in the marketing principles and practices required for upper level elective courses.

EMBA 670 - Information Management for Competitive Advantage

This course focuses on exploiting information systems (IS) and information technology (IT) for a competitive advantage. It explores the impact of IS and IT on the internal and external environments of organizations. It examines decisions needed for effective deployment of IS and IT, such as selection of IT infrastructure, valuation of IT business models, and analysis of the operational benefits and risks. The course also introduces students to the opportunities and challenges of managing technology activities to meet the needs of business executives, IT executives, users, and IT partners.

EMBA 680 – Managing in the Ethical and Legal Environment I and II

This course applies multidisciplinary analytical techniques and case analysis as strategic management tools to assist executives in successfully navigating an increasingly complex, evolving, and highly competitive business environment in which ethical, legal, economic, and regulatory forces are continuously reshaping the global marketplace and creating or limiting competitive opportunities.

EMBA 770 – The Washington Campus Seminar

This 5 day seminar in Washington, D.C. provides first-hand exposure to linkage between public and economic policy and its impact on business strategy development and execution. You will meet with key members of Congress, the Administration, influential lobbyists, the media, and other organizations that influence policy development.  You will examine first-hand how the branches of government operate and learn to assess government action and its impact on both national and international business.

EMBA 780 - Managing in the Global Environment I and II

This course introduces the student to the fundamentals of the global business environment and the cross-cultural factors that affect management practice in this environment. Topics covered include economic environment, free trade and regional integration, foreign direct investment, exchange rate determination and relevant government policies, the decision to go international, and the multinational firm and its business functions.

EMBA 800 - Strategic Management

In this course, students develop a multifunctional general management perspective, integrating and applying knowledge and techniques learned in the core courses of the MBA program. Students also learn about the principal concepts, frameworks, and techniques of strategic management; develop the capacity for strategic thinking; and examine the organizational and environmental contexts in which strategic management unfolds. Students achieve these course objectives through a variety of learning activities, such as case studies, computer simulations, examinations, project reports, and experiential exercises.

EMBA 900 – Program Experiential

The objective of the Program Experiential (Field Research Project) is to create a synergistic event that combines a student’s course work, research, and career business experience which will serve as the capstone of the EMBA Program.  The event is a research-based application of what is learned in the classroom to the student’s professional work environment.  This experiential is personally designed, business focused and built on the student’s own interests and career goals.  Each student will be assigned a faculty member to facilitate the successful completion of this field research project.

EMGIB 900 – Global Product Innovation & Development

This course has been designed to equip students with the necessary knowledge, expertise and   capabilities to understand and apply the foundational concepts of global product innovation and development.  This course will cover a variety of topics related to global product development, engineering and manufacturing and their integration to successfully launch new products. The course will use casework and an experiential project the latter of which will immerse the students in the concept of virtual teamwork.

EMKT 827 – Customer Perspectives: Behavior, Research and Analysis

This course will introduce students to key concepts in the fields of buyer behavior and marketing research.  Customer perspectives will be examined in light of major topics in consumer behavior including attitudes, involvement and decision-making.  To gain an appreciation of methods for understanding buyer behavior, students will explore qualitative and quantitative marketing research approaches (including data analysis).

EMGOB 840 – Power and Influence

The exercise of power and influence and the related aspects of political behavior have been recognized, both from a practical and theoretical standpoint, as an increasingly important and largely overlooked component of organizational life.  The main objective of this course is to provide a framework of detecting, interpreting and understanding power and influence manifestations in a rational and objective manner. Topics addressed include: (1) the concept of power, influence, and politics and their role in organizational life; (2) sources of power and influence; (3) assessment of and conditions for the use of power; (4) strategies, tactics and modalities of political behavior; and (5) managerial and structural implications of power and politics.  The course will be conducted in a seminar format with computer model applications.

EMGOB 855 – Conflict and Negotiation

This course emphasizes the theory and skills of win-win negotiation.  Students assess their own negotiation styles, analyze the process of negotiation and apply theory-based skills for integrative problems solving approaches to negotiation.  The course utilizes a mix of teaching tools, including readings, lectures, cases, exercises, videotapes and role playing.

EMGOB 860 – Leadership and Team Building Seminar

This 5 day seminar was created to develop and refine organizational leadership skills at multiple levels. Classroom activities and a physical challenge result in an intensive educational experience.   The challenge of leadership is to know your strengths and develop them in ways which have a direct, positive impact on the organization.  You will learn how well you really function in a group dynamic.  Do you rise to face challenges? Do you accept and handle risk? Do you adapt to change?  How well do you really know your leadership style?

EMGOB 865 – Change Leadership

You will learn strategies and practical tools to help you in leading your organization toward creative change. You will also learn to develop your potential to envision, lead and sustain organizational innovation and change. You will develop a customized plan of action to implement change within your organization.  Through this program you will learn to address change leadership at all levels of your firm; strategic, organizational and individual. This course is highly interactive, with breakout groups, simulations, experiential exercises, case study, and discussion. In this course you will learn to align change to strategic goals and organizational values; create, lead, and sustain a change initiative; develop a change plan; identify and apply appropriate change and leadership methods and approaches that achieve your desired outcome, and form an effective, productive, and creative change leadership team

EMGSM 831 - Managng Knowledge: A Collaborative Approach

This course examines the practicing manager’s role as a direct contributor to and collaborator in the knowledge economy. Topics covered include identification and integration of individual, community, organizational and industry knowledge sources; use of project teams for knowledge generation and transfer; the roles of strategic alliances, networks and the World Wide Web in knowledge work activities; interdependencies in global knowledge collaborations; competition over intellectual property; and the use of tools in knowledge-based collaboration. Course participants will gain practical experience in the evaluation and design of knowledge-based practices.