MBAC 499. Introduction to Learning Skills. 0 Unit.

This course is designed to introduce you to the Weatherhead School of Management (WSOM) community, highlight critical support services to assist you as you transition to campus life, and prepare you for a successful orientation experience. Upon completion of this course, you will be able to: effectively navigate a Canvas course to access content and complete assignments (better community experience, create a career profile to introduce yourself to fellow classmates and the community, identify behaviors that align with WSOM academic and attendance policies, connect with WSOM community groups that align with your interests and needs, discover university resources to support your academic and well-being journey, apply the critical thinking framework to structure an approach to the case study learning method, prepare for class registration, configure your computer system with the necessary software for your program and fall courses, and complete onboarding activities before your arrival on campus for orientation.

MBAC 500. Probability, Statistics, and Quantitative Methods. 1.5 Unit.

This 1.5 credit hour pass/fail course is designed to provide MBA students with all of the basic statistics and mathematics background material, as well as some experience with EXCEL and the statistics software package SPSS, that is needed in a number of their required core courses. Prereq: Full-time MBA program only.

MBAC 501A. Design Thinking in Management. 1 Unit.

How did LEGO rise from the brink of bankruptcy and rejuvenate a once fraying toy business? By seeking to more thoroughly understand the value of toys. How did the company conduct this pursuit? By observing children playing and then talking with them about what was seen. How did Samsung over the last decade become the world largest television manufacturer? By understanding the value of electronic screens. How did it gain new insights about them? By going to consumers' residences and observing how individuals and families (and other groups) use their televisions in their own home settings. These companies and many others, Amazon, Apple, Chick-fil-A, Geek Squad (before acquired by Best Buy), Netflix, and Starbucks, have embraced design as a business discipline responsible for identifying opportunities to create new value through the innovation of goods, services, and experiences. This course offers to equip you with basic design frameworks, methods, and tools to enhance the knowledge and skills gained in other courses and concentrations within Weatherhead's MBA program. Successful business leaders in the 21st century will need to possess a working knowledge of design as a part of their management acumen. Knowing how to think innovatively in the face of wickedly complex challenges, for one's business, organization, and industry, within the broader cultural milieu of customers "lives" will surely distinguish exemplary business leaders from lesser performers. Whether your career finds you serving within a multinational corporation or an entrepreneurial start-up, a governmental agency or non-profit enterprise, the ability to be innovative and creative upon demand will be a crucial skill. These seminar workshops aim to convince you that such is indeed are learnable skills, and to provide a foundation for further developing your design thinking over time. Prereq: Full time MBA student.

MBAC 501B. Professional Development and Career Strategy. .5 Unit.

The Professional Development and Career Strategy course is designed to help MBA students prepare for the interview and job search process. Your LEAD course taken in the first semester of the first year will allow you to take a deeper dive and self-reflect on what you desire for your career and life, align your vision and values, and develop a plan. The Professional Development and Career Strategy course will support you in executing the career aspects of your plan and further develop those areas which you have discovered will prevent you from moving forward in obtaining the career you desire. Part A of the course will include four modules: Personal Brand and Positioning, Networking, Interview Skills, and Job Search Strategy. Prior to the start of the course, a one-on-one career readiness and career leader assessment, resume review and an intercultural training and communication session will take place so that during the fall semester you can focus on networking, enhancing interview skills and developing and executing your job search strategy. Throughout the course, students will focus on their career goals and objectives within the context of self to develop their positioning and value proposition statement, social media presence, supporting collateral, and an effective job search strategy. With a greater sense of self discovered in the LEAD course and your value proposition statement, you will be immersed in the interview process to gain an understanding of the various types of interviews (behavioral, case style and technical), the competencies being evaluated, how to prepare for each and develop competency through consistent practice and feedback. To measure improvement at the end of the year, a baseline assessment of your interview skills will be conducted by an industry professional. Executive presence and communication skills topics will be incorporated throughout the course to improve likelihood of success during the job search process and beyond. This course will be taught by the career development and placement teams and industry and alumni guest speakers to offer a real-world perspective. In addition to the course, you will have access to: 1. Leadership Coaching: Leadership Coaching is provided through the LEAD course. As you determine your direction and plan, you will have access to additional facilitated discussions to further explore/discover your options for your career and life. 2. Career Advising: Career advising is provided by the Career Development and Placement teams. You will receive practical guidance on the "how" to execute your career strategy. Prereq: Full time MBA Student.

MBAC 501C. Sustainable Value Innovation. 1 Unit.

The relationship between business and society, and the search for mutually beneficial advances between industry and the world's most pressing challenges, has become one of the defining issues of the 21st century. In every sector, immense entrepreneurial creativity is used to create a better world. Positive entrepreneurial energy is growing in direct proportion to the growing crises of our times. Industrial facilities and corporate buildings are being designed in ways that give back more clean energy than they use. Bottom-of-the-pyramid strategies and micro-enterprise models are helping to eradicate extreme poverty. Companies are designing supply chains that leave behind zero waste, only "waste-as-food" that becomes a cost-saving input for other industries. Powered by artificial intelligence, products and services are helping to solve social, health, and climate-related challenges. What research studies are documenting -including The Business of Building a Better World: The Leadership Revolution that is Changing Everything (Cooperrider and Selian, 2022. Berrett-Koehler), The Base of the Pyramid Promise (London, 2016. Stanford University Press), Embedded Sustainability: The Next Big Competitive Advantage (Laszlo and Zhexembayeva, 2011. Stanford University Press), Flourishing Enterprise (Laszlo et. al., 2014. Stanford University Press), Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire (Henderson, 2020. Public Affairs/Hachette)-is that, one-by-one, positive disruptions are erasing the false dichotomy embedded in "the great trade-off illusion", the belief that firms must sacrifice financial performance if they choose to strategically address societal, environmental, and wellbeing challenges. It is in such a context that this MBA course explores one overarching proposition: that business, the motor of our society, has the opportunity to be the most positive and creative force on the planet, a force that contributes to the well-being of many as we transition to a sustainable world economy. Our search is for "business as an agent of world benefit": what does it look like, where is it happening, what are the market, societal and leadership enablers, and what are the business results and value propositions involved? And most important: how does this help each of you, as MBA students, to become leaders in the managerial, executive, and entrepreneurial roles you will occupy; ready to "win the future" and succeed in a marketplace where "doing well by doing good" is fast becoming the new normal. Prereq: Enrolled in Full-time MBA program.

MBAC 501D. Professional Development and Career Strategy. .5 Unit.

The Professional Development and Career Strategy course is designed to help MBA students prepare for their career post MBA. Your LEAD course taken in the first semester of the first year will allow you to take a deeper dive and self-reflect on what you desire for your career and life, align your vision and values, and develop a plan. The Professional Development and Career Strategy course will support you in executing the career aspects of your plan and further develop those areas which you have discovered will prevent you from moving forward in obtaining the career you desire. Part B of the course will focus on three modules including Interview Skills, Job Search Strategy (for Career) and Executive Presence and Communications. You will continue to refine your interview skills for behavioral, case style and technical interviews through consistent practice and feedback to advance your interviewing skills. This process will conclude with a year-end assessment of your progress conducted by an industry professional. Additionally, you will have an opportunity to refine your presentation skills as well as refresh your resume and job search strategy plan. The course will be taught by the career development and placement teams and industry and alumni guest speakers to offer a real-world perspective. In addition to the course, you will have access to: 1. Leadership Coaching: Leadership Coaching is provided through the LEAD course. As you determine your direction and plan, you will have access to additional facilitated discussions to further explore/discover your options for your career and life. 2. Career Advising: Career advising is provided by the Career Development and Placement teams. You will receive practical guidance on the "how" to execute your career strategy. Prereq: Full time MBA Student and MBAC 501B.

MBAC 502. Financial Accounting. 3 Units.

This course covers financial accounting: concepts, principles, and analyses. The major emphasis is development of an understanding of accounting information and reporting to enable you to be an effective manager. Although considerable importance is placed on the evaluation, interpretation, and analysis of accounting information for decision making: the fundamentals of accounting measurement and disclosure are also covered. Prereq: Full-time MBA program only.

MBAC 503. Managerial Accounting. 1.5 Unit.

This course focuses on managerial accounting. Upon completion of the course, students should be comfortable with the following: -understanding the basics of commonly used costing methods. -creating and analyzing a budget. -analyzing departmental, divisional and corporate performance. -using data to make business decisions using managerial accounting techniques, and understanding the basic concepts of management decision analysis and the related vocabulary. Specifically, the course helps provide some answers to the following questions: -How is management accounting information prepared and reported, and how can it be understood and analyzed? -How can the analysis of management accounting and other data help management better understand the drivers of the company's financial performance, the strengths and weaknesses of the company's operations and management, and the risks and opportunities facing it? -How can the analysis of financial and other management information enable management to make the best decisions to address the risks and opportunities of its operations? The goal of this class is to move you from simply "doing the work and forgetting it" to helping you gain knowledge and a basic skill set that you will be able to apply to real-life opportunities. Prereq: Full-time MBA program and (MBAP 402 or MBAC 502).

MBAC 504. Corporate Finance I. 3 Units.

This is a MBA core finance course. In this course, students are introduced to the basics of corporate finance, including the objectives of and the decisions made by corporate financial managers. Topics covered include time value of money, stock and bond valuation, cost of capital, risk and return, investment decision rules, cash flows and free cash flows, cash flow projections and planning, and capital budgeting. Other topics may be covered from time to time. Prereq: Full-time MBA program only.

MBAC 505. Corporate Finance II. 1.5 Unit.

This is an MBA core finance course. The objective of the course is to strengthen students' conceptual understanding and problem-solving skills in corporate finance. Topics covered include cash flows and valuation, financial planning and ratio analysis, financing using internal and external sources including public offerings, capital budgeting and managerial options, capital structure, payout policy, working capital management, and financial planning and strategy. Topics could change from semester to semester. The course envisages use of case studies, excel spreadsheets, and simulation exercises. Prereq: MBAC 504.

MBAC 506. Marketing Management. 3 Units.

Through lecture, discussion, cases, projects and/or simulations you will learn theory and practice of how firms develop processes to understand, create and deliver "triple bottom line" value (i.e., economic, social and environmental) to business and/or consumer markets. Specifically in this course, we take the perspective that marketing is a process of creating value for firms, customers, and other stakeholders through mutually desirable exchanges. This is the foundation of a customer orientation and a central theme of market-driven management. Methods for strategic marketing planning, understanding buyer behavior, market analysis, segmentation and devising integrated marketing programs are introduced. Prereq: Full-time MBA program only.

MBAC 507. Operations and Supply Chain Management. 3 Units.

Operations and supply chain managers, ranging from supervisors to vice presidents, are concerned with the production of goods and services. More specifically, they are responsible for designing, running, controlling and improving the systems to deliver their goods or services timely and efficiently. This course is a broad-spectrum course with emphasis on techniques and information that are helpful to the practice of management in general and at any level. Through lectures, case discussions, and experiential learning in simulations and educational games, we will discuss commonly occurring application problems such as bottleneck identification, capacity planning, inventory control, bullwhip effect, supply chain design, etc. We will examine operations and supply chain management in a variety of contexts including manufacturing systems, financial companies, hospitals, start-ups, and apparel industries. Also we will explore the interface of operations and supply chain management with other functional areas such as marketing, finance, accounting, etc. This course is not oriented toward specialists in operations and supply chain management. Its goal is to introduce you to the basic concepts, to develop your business intuition about operations and supply chain management, to help you understand the day-to-day challenges in this area, and to provide you with the tools to address these challenges. Prereq: MBAC 511 and enrolled in Full-time MBA program.

MBAC 508A. Strategic Issues and Applications. 1.5 Unit.

Strategic management deals fundamentally with the ways firms build and sustain superior competitive positions and profitability. Successful strategy design and implementation requires an understanding of a firm's external environment, its internal resources and capabilities. It also requires an integrative view of the firm that spans functional areas such as operations, marketing and finance. Strategic analysis draws on a number of academic disciplines including economics, psychology, political and management science. Prereq: Full-time MBA program only.

MBAC 508B. Strategic Issues and its Applications II. 1.5 Unit.

The primary objectives of the course are for students to be able to: 1. Understand the nature of strategic competitiveness and develop the ability to analyze the competitive environment facing a firm, assess the attractiveness of the industry and isolate potential sources of competitive advantage which will aid in developing a positioning strategy for the firm 2. Develop a basic understanding of the organizational and administrative planning issues in implementing strategy. 3. Integrate knowledge and apply techniques from various disciplines, including finance, accounting, marketing and organizational behavior. The aim is to identify and analyze strategic issues and develop solutions in the form of actionable plans with the purpose of developing and sustaining competitive advantage. 4. Discriminate among the types of data that managers require in order to evaluate scenarios. Develop logical, coherent and persuasive analysis for a desired course of action. Consider how to effectively implement plans within the constraints imposed by the complex behavior of individuals within organizations. Students should be able to effectively communicate conclusions in both written and oral form. Prereq: MBAC 508A and enrolled in the full-time MBA program.

MBAC 511. Statistics and Decision Modeling. 3 Units.

This course provides the foundations of statistical and operations research methodologies for managerial decision-making. Topics covered include using sample data to (a) estimate quantities of interest and create confidence intervals, (b) perform hypothesis tests, and (c) make forecasts with simple and multiple regression. Decision modeling involves using mathematical models to provide a quantitative approach to analyzing and solving complex decision problems and includes an introduction to linear and integer programming models and applications, queuing models, and simulation models, all solved by appropriate computer software packages. Prereq or Coreq: MBAC 500. Prereq: Full-time MBA program.

MBAC 512. Economics. 3 Units.

This course is designed to give you an overview and a basic understanding of modern economics. The course will cover the microeconomic topics of consumer choice, business decision making, and market equilibrium; as well as the macroeconomic topics of economic growth, inflation, interest rates, and exchange rates. In the process of achieving these specific content objectives, this course is taught in a way that will support the MBA program goals of having students become competent analysts and a critical, creative thinkers. Prereq: MBAC 511 and enrolled in Full-time MBA program.

MBAC 515A. Leadership Assessment and Development. 1.5 Unit.

In today's increasingly complex and fast-paced environment, it is essential for you to know yourself well, to be able to develop your capabilities and to work effectively with a wide range of people. The objective of this course is to broaden and deepen your self-awareness and to prepare you to be an effective leader and life-long learner. The course is based on a model of self-directed learning and development. You will get to know yourself better through a series of experiential activities, assessment exercises, group discussions and discussions with a coach as well as classroom peers. The process we will follow in the course will help you to manage and lead effectively by discovering and articulating your values and vision, by assessing your leadership skills and abilities and in crafting meaningful learning plans to reach your personal and professional development objectives. Ultimately, this course is about developing the leader within you so that you are best positioned to lead and manage others. Prereq: Full-time MBA program only.

MBAC 515B. Leadership Assessment and Development. 1.5 Unit.

In today's increasingly complex and fast-paced environment, it is essential for you to know yourself well, to be able to develop your capabilities and to work effectively with a wide range of people. The objective of this course is to broaden and deepen your self-awareness and to prepare you to be an effective leader and life-long learner. The course is based on a model of self-directed learning and development. You will get to know yourself better through a series of experiential activities, assessment exercises, group discussions and discussions with a coach as well as classroom peers. The process we will follow in the course will help you to manage and lead effectively by discovering and articulating your values and vision, by assessing your leadership skills and abilities and in crafting meaningful learning plans to reach your personal and professional development objectives. Ultimately, this course is about developing the leader within you so that you are best positioned to lead and manage others. 1) To be an effective leader of others, you must first know yourself well. 2) To be an effective leader, you must develop personal strategies for managing and navigating differences within your teams and broader organization. 3) You are here because you want to grow in your knowledge and abilities. 4) Treating each other with respect and kindness is essential for our learning community to thrive. 5) You learn best when you are aware of and have the opportunity to build upon your current capabilities. 6) An interactive and participative learning environment will help you to learn best. 7) Feedback is useful and important for your growth and development. Prereq: MBAC 515A.

MBAC 518. Business Analytics. 3 Units.

Companies, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations can collect prodigious amounts of data with relative ease, but the data become insights only after they are organized, analyzed, and communicated. Substantial evidence exists to indicate that the demand for analytics trained managers outstrips current supply, and will continue to remain strong in the foreseeable future. Using analytics tools to use data to create insights is a prerequisite to effective management. Building on your first course in statistics, in this course you will be introduced to other useful analytical tools (e.g., Predictive Modeling, Data Mining, and Data Visualization). The course will also introduce commonly used software tools. Prereq: MBAC 511.