Course Description
Welch MBA Prerequisite Courses
WGB 520 Introduction to Economics and Statistics 3 CH
Key topics in statistics and economics will be covered. Economic topics include supply, demand, market equilibrium price and quantity; elasticity; economic cost; economies of scale; perfect completion; monopoly; monopolistic completion; and oligopoly. In addition, macroeconomic terminology of GDP, inflation and unemployment; the basics of the aggregate supply and aggregate demand model; fiscal policy; monetary policy; and the role of exchange rates will be covered. Statistics topics include an introduction to statistical capabilities of Excel; graphical descriptive techniques; numerical descriptive techniques and simple linear regression analysis.
WGB 521 Fundamentals of Management 3 CH
Using a framework of managerial roles and competencies, this course explores what management involves, how it affects people within an organization, why it is critical to the effective functioning of an organization, and how the accomplishment of management functions may vary in different cultural contexts. The course surveys competencies and knowledge necessary for successfully facing current challenges in the rapidly changing global business environment.
Welch MBA Core Courses
WGB 600 Professional Planning 1 CH
Students plan their MBA program based on personal and professional assessments. The course also introduces a management model, managerial thinking and the role of values and ethics in managerial work. Students review academic skills needed to successfully complete the program, complete self assessments, and develop plans for professional development and program completion. The action learning project is introduced, but students do not being work on it until after completing WGB 640 and WGB 641 Dynamic Business Processes I & II.
WGB 600 Professional Planning 1 CH
Students plan their MBA program based on personal and professional assessments. The course also introduces a management model, managerial thinking and the role of values and ethics in managerial work. Students review academic skills needed to successfully complete the program, complete self-assessments, and develop plans for professional development and program completion.
WGB 601 Accounting and Information Systems 3 CH
Provides an introduction to both accounting and information systems with a focus on the preparation and interpretation of financial statements and the effective planning, implementation and integration of information technology.
WGB 603 Financial Management 3 CH
Provides an introduction to three key areas in finance - financial markets, financial management and valuation- focusing on how capital is effectively raised and invested in a value based management framework. Topics covered include: analysis of firm performance using financial ratios and other measures; techniques to assess new opportunities including new product lines, projects or corporate investments; an introduction to global capital markets; the relationship between risk and return; determinants of a firm’s cost of raising capital and the basic factors impacting the value of financial securities.
WGB 612 Leading and Influencing with Integrity 3 CH
Leaders and managers at all levels in organizations must influence others to enable achievement of the organization’s objectives. Leading and influencing with integrity requires understanding of one’s self, other people, the situational and cultural context, as well as both current and future impacts of actions taken. Through course learning experiences students develop individual and organizational strategies to influence others, shape culture, manage change, negotiate, and facilitate employee engagement and performance so that their organizations can contribute to society in ways that are effective, responsible and sustainable.
WGB 614 Social and Legal Responsibilities in Business 3 CH
Sustainable organizational practices require managers to pay attention to the economic, environmental and social impact of organizational strategies and actions. This course focuses on ethical and legal issues that organizations and individual managers face in achieving triple bottom line sustainability. Ethical decision-making frameworks provide principles for dealing with challenges posed by technology, globalization and societal changes and for fulfilling personal as well as corporate social responsibility. Legal topics survey business regulation and processes, forms of business organizations, intellectual property and commercial transactions.
WGB 640 and WGB 641 Dynamic Business Management I and II (6 CH each, total of 12 CH)
Prerequisite: WGB 600, WGB 601, WGB 603. Organizational success relies on effectively leading and managing holistically across many disciplines. The integrated core takes a process-based approach to present fundamental knowledge on accounting, finance, management, marketing, operations, and strategy. Classroom discussions are team taught with multiple professors and senior professional experts using real-life business simulations.
WGB 640 follows the process of developing new business sources, including new products and services. The viewpoint is from the top of the organization and how organizational leaders allocate resources. WGB 641 takes a more operational viewpoint. This includes the examination of processes involving order management, planning and budgeting, performance measurement, and talent management.
WGB 691 Welch Competency Demonstration and Implementation 2 CH
This is the capstone course of the MBA program. Through interdisciplinary projects, cases, readings, and experiential exercises, students hone their strategic management skills and make presentations to business practitioners and faculty. Seminar topics cover leadership, sustainability, and doing business globally. Students prepare an E-portfolio to demonstrate their learning in the program.
Finance Electives
FN 661 Global Financial Markets and Institutions 3 CH
Prerequisite: WGB 603 Corporate Financial Management or FN 660 Financial Management. Analyzes modern financial markets from the risk/management and risk measurement perspective. Presents overviews of key theories and recent developments in international securities markets. Emphasis is on managing risk on the balance sheet at various financial institutions. Implications of monetary policy decisions by international monetary authorities are also examined.
FN 662 Corporate Finance 3 CH
Prerequisite: WGB 603 Corporate Financial Management or FN 660 Financial Management. Examines corporate finance topics including working capital management, financial analysis, leverage, capital structure, capital budgeting and valuation. Emphasis is on creating financial models to analyze issues.
FN 663 Global Investments 3 CH
Prerequisite: WGB 603 Corporate Financial Management or FN 660 Financial Management. Course exposes students to the theory and practice of investments on a global scale. Key topics include: capital markets and instruments, efficient investment sets, basic equilibrium models such as CAPM and APT, bond prices and yields, equity valuation models, and an overview of portfolio theory and derivatives.
FN 665 International Financial Management 3 CH
Prerequisite: WGB 603 Corporate Financial Management or FN 660 Financial Management. A study of financial management concepts and techniques, applied to international operations. Topics include: foreign currency spot and forward trading; exchange rate systems and determination, and country risk assessment; taxation and regulatory issues of non-U.S. markets; and sources and uses of funds for multinational corporations.
FN 668 Portfolio Management 3 CH
Prerequisite: WGB 603 Corporate Financial Management or FN 660 Financial Management. Develops the student’s ability to evaluate securities in the context of a portfolio. Topics include: portfolio construction rules based on risk and return goals, valuation measures and risk-reduction techniques using derivative products.
FN 669 Alternative Investments 3 CH
Prerequisite: WGB 603 Corporate Financial Management or FN 660 Financial Management. Examines financial concepts applied to current issues in finance such as risk management products and techniques.
FN 670 Mergers, Acquisitions and Joint Ventures 3 CH
Prerequisite: WGB 603 Corporate Financial Management or FN 660 Financial Management. Examines the role of each of these strategies as part of the whole restructuring process faced by corporations in their attempt to compete and grow in the United States and abroad. Emphasis is on each method’s strategic and financial advantages. Group analysis of cases and computer applications are utilized.
FN 672 Derivatives and Risk Management 3 CH
Prerequisite: WGB 603 Corporate Financial Management or FN 660 Financial Management. An overview of derivative securities and their use in corporate strategy and risk management, this course employs quantitative methods to analyze, design, price and use derivative instruments in a managerial context. Basic derivative contracts such as forward, futures, options and swaps are covered, as well as the pricing of these claims, arbitrage, and hedging in these markets. Students apply the analytical models to real-life situations through case studies.
Management Electives
BU 610 Entrepreneurship 3 CH
Prerequisites: WGB 601 Accounting and Information Systems or equivalent, WGB 603 Corporate Financial Management or equivalent and WGB 640 Dynamic Business Management I. Students utilize their interdisciplinary business knowledge and creativity to evaluate an entrepreneurial opportunity, whether a new product/service/business, or a new application of an existing product or service. In developing a comprehensive business plan student teams use their knowledge of the market and the competitive landscape, engage in research, develop financial models/forecasts, and gauge the project’s financial feasibility, taking into consideration inherent business risk and the likelihood of being able to raise venture capital.
BU 621 Comparative Management and Intercultural Communication 3 CH
Prerequisite: WGB Foundations of Management Note: BU 601 Organization Management may be substituted. Sensitivity to different perceptions, values, traditions and ways of thinking are critically important in today’s global workforce and as organizations interact across cultures. This course explores how culture affects individuals as well as organizations, and introduces frameworks for understanding how cultures may vary. Students develop strategies for effectively communicating, working with and managing people of different cultural backgrounds.
BU 632 Managing Change 3 CH
Prerequisite: WGB 521 Foundations of Management Note: BU 601 Organization Management may be substituted. Examines strategies and techniques for successfully introducing and managing change in organizations. Explores power, influence, leadership, motivation, and communication in the change process, as well as organization development, organizational learning, and innovation management. Student teams develop a framework for recognizing factors that influence change and a process map to manage change effectively.
BU 667 Team Management 3 CH
Prerequisite: WGB 521 Foundations of Management Note: BU 601 Organization Management may be substituted. Examines the use of teams to accomplish organizational strategies. Topics include: team leadership, goal-setting, group dynamics, group decision-making, diversity and multicultural issues.
BU 687 Contemporary Issues in Global Management 3 CH
Prerequisite: WGB 521 Foundations of Management Note: BU 601 Organization Management may be substituted. Explores a variety of current issues and emerging trends affecting global business, utilizing a cross-disciplinary approach to the management of today’s global enterprises.
BU 699 Operations Excellence 3 CH
This course covers the theory and practise of operations improvement with the major improvement methodologies used to achieve operational excellence, like Lean, Total Quality Management, Six Sigma, Business Process Re-engineering, Systems Thinking, Theory of Constraints etc. The course will have a heavy emphasis on Lean Methodology and Lean Transformation of Enterprises, but when possible guest speakers will present their preferred improvement methodologies with practical illustrations. The course will attempt to cover different industries and business sectors ranging from industrial production to financial and other services. The practical objective of the course is to have the academic background be able to apply appropriate improvement methodologies to real opportunities.