Today's business environment forces executives to use every tool at their disposal to create and maintain an effective and adaptable organization. A major source of effectiveness and adaptability is the way in which the company's efforts are organized—its systems, structures, management process, rewards, and strategies.

The primary job of senior management today is to design, build, and operate organizations that function effectively. What this means is that the organization is in a constant state of change. Understanding the change process is vital. Knowing the roadblocks to effective change is very important. The role of the manager as a change agent becomes critical. Often the problems arise not from the change itself, but the process of making the change. Individuals resist change. It is a natural phenomenon. How and why this change manifests itself is a central issue in this course. Developing the skills to move through the change process not knowing what roadblocks one might encounter is becoming incredibly valuable.

In this course, we enhance the your statistical and mathematical modeling skills covering the following topics:

• Probabilistic decision-making
• Regression analysis
• Forecasting
• Simulation with @@RISK
• Optimization modeling with the EXCEL Solver
• Making decisions when multiple objectives are involved
• Using neural networks to improve forecasting.

Applications from all major functional areas will be discussed.

In this course, you’ll gain a user-oriented understanding of how accounting information should be managed to ensure its availability on a timely and relevant basis for decision-making. The first part of the course reviews financial accounting and reporting while the second part of the course focuses on cost-benefit analysis for evaluating the potential value-added results from planning, organizing, and controlling a firm’s accounting information. The use of cases, forum discussions and computer support is used extensively.

In this course, you’ll learn about:

• Economic decision-making in the business firm
• The strategic interaction of business firms in industries
• The purchasing and behavior of individual consumers and consumers as a group
• The influence of public policy on market outcomes

You’ll also develop:

• A fluency with the language of economics and a strong 'economic intuition'
• An understanding of selected economics-based decision-making tools and the impact and interaction of the structure of an industry on competition
• The skills to analyze intra-industry rivalry
• An improved understanding of public policy issues

There will be an emphasis on the logical foundations of economic analysis and managerial decision making to promote the understanding and application of various quantitative measures.

In this course, you will:

• Develop a working knowledge of the tools and analytical conventions used in the practice of corporate finance
• Establish an understanding of the basic elements of financial theory to be used in application of analytical reasoning to business problems
• Explore the interrelationship among corporate policies and decisions.

Your coursework will include problem sets, study group preparation of executive summary memos and critiques, and the use of PC spreadsheets to develop a planning model for a case focusing on funds requirement.

This course includes the study of information systems management, including:

• Computer and communications concepts
• IT investment decisions
• Business applications
• Systems acquisition and implementation
• End-user support structures
• E-commerce applications
• Strategic capabilities

Readings and case analysis are used to address practical issues in the application of information technology.

In this course, we will discuss concepts and issues associated with the accounting of and management of business. Particular emphasis is given to understanding the role of accounting in product costing, costing for quality, cost-justifying investment decisions, and performance evaluation and control of human behavior.

At the end of the course, you will be able to prepare, use, and critically evaluate management accounting information for purposes of planning and control, product costing, and performance measurement and evaluation. You’ll also learn how to analyze the role of accounting information to make effective managerial decisions, both at the level of a particular department and of the enterprise as a whole.

A key focus of managers in public corporations is the creation of enterprise value and the way that value is shared between various suppliers of capital. This course provides an understanding of how financial markets function and how investors value financial securities. This knowledge will assist the manager to understand how various decisions may impact firm and shareholder value.

Topics covered include the demand for and pricing of debt and equity securities, portfolio theory, and the pricing and expanding role of derivative securities.

A key focus of most publicly owned companies is enhancement of shareholder value. The value of a firm is determined through investors’ assessment of the efficacy of managerial actions.

Three key finance decisions that affect investors’ assessments are:

• The form in which capital is raised
• How the capital is employed
• How returns are distributed to providers of capital

Managers and investor have differential access to information on the actions and impact of decisions. Investors try to compensate for this differential information by establishing governance structures to monitor and control management actions and by trying to read intent from management decisions. In turn management attempts to create a structure for analyzing decisions that is consistent with investors’ valuation if management action could be freely observed.

This course investigates how agency relationships and financial contracting affect financial decisions such as capital structure, dividends, share repurchases, and managerial incentives. A capital investment process will be developed that includes the application of analytical tools to assess the economic value created by capital investments, adjustments for project risk using external market information and simulations techniques, and the use of real options analysis to value management flexibility and strategic investments.