M.B.A. COURSES

M.B.A. - MASTERS IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Admittance in to the MBA program follows a specific course sequence designed by the professors. These courses are reserved for students of Graduate standing. The MBA courses are 3 credits each if not otherwise indicated.

Pre Courses

Core Courses

Electives Courses

Research and Professional Practice

PRE COURSES

This course is meant to prepare students to pass the GMAT examination. The GMAT is a standardized assessment, delivered in English, which allow students to be admitted at business schools all over the world. Business Schools use the score of this test as a predictor of a potential student future academic performance in an MBA program or in other graduate management programs. The GMAT examination aim to assess applying MBA students on their basic verbal, mathematical, and analytical writing skills. Students are strongly encouraged to prepare for this test since it allows them to take business and management courses in almost everything business program around the world and to have a highly reputable and objective ranking of their quantitative and analytical capabilities.
Prerequisite: None
Credits: None

CORE COURSES

This economics course covers MBA level introductory topics on Macroeconomics and Microeconomics. These topics include among others, utility, marginal decision making, scarcity, opportunity cost, efficiency, supply and demand, the concept of elasticity, consumer and producer surplus, trade, GDP, GNP, fiscal policy, monetary policy, unemployment, inflation, wage and price controls, social security, welfare, national debt, interest rates, aggregate demand and supply, surplus, budget deficit, firms' production, cost and revenue, perfect competition, monopoly, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, international trade, and the analysis of the principles underlying the behavior of individual consumers and business firms. Furthermore, additional topics include problems of international trade and finance, distribution of income, policies for eliminating poverty and discrimination, sustainability and environmental pollution, and the effects of various market structures on economic activity.
Prerequisite: None

This course focuses on industry, business and competitive analysis. It aims to provide to the students a general managerial decision making framework for to facing business problems and managing organizations in ever changing business environments. The course covers the following topics: competitive analysis and decision making, performing the analysis process, avoiding analysis pitfalls, communicating analysis results, applying the FAROUT method, industry analysis, competitive positioning analysis, business model analysis, SERVO analysis, supply-chain management analysis, benchmarking analysis, McKinsey 7S analysis, shadowing, product line analysis, win/loss analysis, strategic relationship analysis, corporate reputation analysis, critical success factor analysis, country risk analysis, driving forces analysis, event and timeline analysis, technology forecasting, war gaming, indicators and warning analysis, historiographical analysis, interpretation of statistical analysis, competitor cash flow analysis, analysis of competing hypothesis, Linchpin analysis, problems solving and sustainability.
Prerequisite: None

This course will provide students with the ability to successfully understand accounting concepts, interpret and prepare financial statements and apply the methods learnt to understand and resolve common business problems. Typical topics covered in the course include financial reporting framework (IFRS/IAS and GAAP), introduction to financial statements and financial reporting, the accounting equation, transaction analysis, debt/credit transaction, accrual accounting, assets and asset valuation, taxation, debt, ratio and financial analysis, cash flow analysis, off-balance-sheet assets and liabilities, pensions, stock compensation, and other employee benefits, global operations and group accounting, income preparation and adjusting entries, closing entries, and financial statements preparation and analysis, internal control and cash, short-term investments and receivables, inventory and cost of goods sold, plant assets and intangibles, liabilities, stockholders equity, long-term investments and international operations, the statement of cash flows, introduction to time value of money, balancing accounting objectives and sustainable goals.
Prerequisite: None

This course is designed to provide an overview of the fundamental concepts and tools for financial management in a business firm. This course will explore the role of the financial manager in the corporate world and the key topics of financial management and corporate finance. Typical topics covered in the course include the forms of business organizations, the goals of financial management, the agency problem and the firms' corporate governance, financial markets and the corporation. Additional key topics will address the financial statements analysis (ratio and cash flow analyses), the Du Pont Model, Modigliani-Miller Model, Longterm financial planning and growth, time value of money, discounted cash flow valuation, interest rates and bond valuation, stock valuation, capital budgeting, risk and returns and the security market line, options, cost of capital (WACC), CAPM, APM, IPOs, new equity sales, rights, dilution, financial leverage and capital structure policy, dividends and dividend policy, short-term finance and planning, cash and liquidity management, credit, inventory and working capital management, some introductory elements of international finance and financial engineering, leasing, option valuation, and introductory elements on M&A, managing shareholders' value maximization with a special attention to sustainability issues.
Prerequisite: MBA/6000 Financial Accounting and MBA/60100 Decision Analysis.

This course will provide the student with robust tools and metrics to make quality managerial and personal decisions. Since uncertainty, multiple objectives, and complexity make many decisions difficult, managers must rely on effective use of various types of available information, then analyze this data and create realistic models and forecasts regarding current and future events. In addition to studying standard statistical techniques, multiple regression, cluster, factor, and cost/benefit analyses, will be introduced along with game theory, risk analysis and Bayesian statistics. This course will build the student's repertoire of robust tools to make responsible decisions for present and future problems, valuate potential risks and tradeoffs, and make reasonable predictions of their competitors' action. Typical topics of the course will be basic calculus concepts, descriptive and inferential statistics, decision-making under uncertainty, risk and uncertainty, scenario planning, decisions trees and influence diagrams, applying simulation to decision making, decisions involving multiple objectives, resource allocation, sustainability, and negotiation problems.
Prerequisite: None.

This course will provide the student with a solid foundations on law, business ethics, sustainability , and social responsibility. It addresses introductory topics such as, Common Law, Statutory Law, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Crime, Dispute resolution, and International Law. It focuses more in details on specific legal topics such as, contracts, commercial transactions, agency and employment Law, business organizations legal vehicles, government regulations, property and cyberlaw. A special emphasis is place on the study of business ethics, law and corporate social responsibility with a great attention to sustainability issues and environmentally responsible economic growth. The course will also addresses legal responsibilities of all stakeholders involved in the corporate world and a special attention to law and sustainability.
Prerequisite: None

This course aims to introduce the MBA students to the principles of marketing management, to develop understanding of the concepts, principles, tools and techniques of marketing management, and to highlight current issues in the field of marketing. The course will equip students with the analytical tools that will help them in marketing decision-making, and enable them to understand marketing as a managerial activity and its relationship with other management functions. The course covers a general overview of key marketing management topics such as, creating and capturing customer value, customer relationship management, marketing strategy, analyzing the marketing environment, managing marketing information, consumer and business buyer behavior, segmentation, targeting and positioning, marketing mix decisions and polices, creating competitive advantages, the global marketplace, and sustainable marketing (social responsibility and ethics).
Prerequisite: None

This course aims to explore in details all aspects related to the implementation of marketing strategies, plans and programs. The course analysis in details and study of how to develop marketing effective plans, integrated marketing communication strategies, plans and campaigns, branding and positioning strategies, creative briefs, creative processes, copywriting, campaigns, public relations, newspaper advertising, magazine advertising, radio advertising, television advertising, web advertising, direct marketing, sales promotions, internet, marketing, event management, fairs and exhibitions, sponsorships, distribution strategies, product management and pricing policies and plans, product line extensions, and non-conventional marketing campaigns, implementing sustainable marketing strategies.
Prerequisite: MBA/6300 - Marketing Management

This course aims to introduce the MBA students to organizational structures and organizational behavior principles and concepts. Both theory and practical application will be addressed. The students will gain in this course a working nowledge of the impact of external factors on business decisions relative to the accomplishment of the mission and objectives of an organization. They will also gain an understanding of various forms of ownership to determine their appropriateness relative to an organizations' resources, goals, and objectives. Furthermore, the students will gain an understanding of various business functions and practices and their impact on the successful operation of a business and an understanding of the impact of business decision on the external environment. The course cover topics such as, Organizations and Organization Theory, Strategy, Organization Design, and Effectiveness, Fundamentals of Organization Structure, Organizational Culture and Ethical Values, Decision-Making Processes, and Conflict, Power, and Politics, Management people and organizations with attention to sustainability.
Prerequisite: None

This is a more advanced economic which aim to explore the global perspective of economic policy and analysis. The course analyses in details the most relevant aspects of the World Economy such as, international trade, comparative advantage, absolute advantage, and the production possibilities frontier; the factor endowments and the commodity composition of trade. Amongst the other topics of the course of this course a special focus will be dedicated to intraindustry trade, international factor movements, tariffs and nontariff distortions to trade, international trade policy, regional economic arrangements, international trade and economic growth. The course will also focus on emerging and developing countries, on national income accounting and balance of payments, international transactions and financial markets, macroeconomic policies, exchange rates, interest rates, financial markets, international monetary arrangements and capital flows, global economic prosperity and sustainability.
Prerequisite: Introduction to Economics

The course explores the scope, methodologies and practices of managerial accounting. This discipline is concerned with providing accounting, budgeting, and control information to managers for decision making purposes in the management of the business operation. Thus the focus of managerial accounting, differently from financial accounting, is primarily to facilitate internal managers in their managerial role rather than providing financial disclosure to external stakeholders of the Company. Managerial accounting provides data with which the organizations are actually run. Managerial accounting, also termed, cost accounting deals with typical topics such as, Job-Order Costing, Activity-Based Costing, Process Costing, Cost Behavior, Cost-Volume-Profit Relationships, Profit Planning, Standard Costs, Flexible Budgets and Overhead Analysis, Decentralization, Relevant Costs for Decision Making, Planning & Control Systems through the Balanced Scorecard and Sustainability.
Prerequisite: MBA 6000 - Financial Accounting

The course explores the methodologies and competences required to manage and distribute effectively and efficiently the output of business operations and manufacturing processes. Related activities to this topic include managing purchases, quality control, storage, inventory control, logistics and evaluations, internal processes management and control. The course will also explore how operations management works in different types of organizations (products or services organizations). The course will focus on topics such as, Productivity, Operations Strategy and Sustainability, Project Management, Forecasting, Quality Management, Statistical Process Control, Capacity Planning, Process Strategy, Product Design, Location and Layout Strategies, Job Design and Work Measurement, Supply-Chain Management, e-commerce and Operations Management, Inventory Management, Aggregate Planning, MRP, ERP, Scheduling, Just-in-Time and Lean Production Systems, Maintenance and Reliability, Simulations, Linear Programming, Transportation Models, learning Curves and Waiting-Line Models.
Prerequisite: MBA 6100 - Quantitative Methods for Decision Making

Internet and e-Commerce today represent a major driver of company's growth and value creation strategies. Companies and organizations of all types and sizes are systematically using both the Web and e-Commerce to design their new relationships with their customers, suppliers, distributors, and all other stakeholders. The web strategy is becoming more important for all companies and in the future it will certainly gain even more attention for its unique innovative features and unlimited Web 2.0 framework opportunities . The course aims to challenge students to explore the impact of e-commerce in the business world from the point of view of both, Business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) perspectives. The course introduces students to a wide range of topics such as, Introduction to e-business and e-commerce, E-commerce fundamentals, E-business infrastructure, E-environment, and E-business strategy, application and sustainability.
Prerequisite: None

This course provides an overview of all essential aspects of strategic management. Key topics include, strategy formulation, validation, execution and control. In this course, you will learn analytical techniques for diagnosing the competitive position of a business, evaluating business strategies, and identifying and analyzing specific business options. The student will also be introduced to the Three dimensions of strategy and the different levels of strategy within complex organizations. These concepts and frameworks will help you to learn to put structure on complex and unstructured problems in business strategy, in order to provide a solid foundation for managerial decision making. Among the most relevant topics addressed in this course are, the nature of competitive advantage, corporate-level and business level strategies, strategic leadership and strategy implementation, strategy performance control and strategic sustainability.
Prerequisite: MBA 6300 - Marketing Management; MBA 6400 - Organizational Behavior; MBA 6050 - Corporate Finance; MBA 6600/MIAA 6300 - Managerial Accounting; MBA 6700 - Operations Management

The course explores the domain of entrepreneurship and the challenges of launching and managing successful startup enterprises. It covers with special attention the managerial implications of managing innovations and creating successful business models and unique value propositions. The course will help sharpen students' attitude and skills towards the entrepreneurial mindset. The students are encouraged during the course to envision and to evaluate potential start-up opportunities for their personal development. They will be trained to develop an holistic vision of new startups, from a business idea to a successful enterprise. Key topics of the course include, the entrepreneurial process, opportunity recognition, understanding the business model and developing a strategy, writing a business plan, managing the legal, tax and financing decisions of the startup, building the founding team , and managing a growing business and corporate sustainability.
Prerequisite: MBA 6300 - Marketing Management; MBA 6400 - Organizational Behavior; MBA 6050 - Corporate Finance; MBA 6600/MIAA 6300 - Managerial Accounting; MBA 6700 - Operations Management

ELECTIVES COURSES

This advanced course explores financial engineering techniques and how they are applied to a variety of real world strategies. Students taking this course are familiarized with the theory and practice of the derivative markets. The course covers in particular the following topics, markets, players and conventions, the syndication process, cash flow engineering and forward contracts, futures, engineering simple interest rate derivatives, introduction to swap engineering, repo market strategies and financial engineering, dynamic replication methods and synthetics, mechanics of options, engineering convexity positions, options engineering and applications, pricing tools and financial engineering, fixed-income engineering, volatility engineering, credit derivatives, equity instruments. The course addresses also in details key concepts such as, risk and return, project financing, and other advanced finance topics, including also shareholders' value maximization and sustainability.
Prerequisite: MBA 6050 - Corporate Finance

This advanced accounting course introduces the student to financial statement analysis from an international perspective. Amongst the main topics addressed by this course are the differences and similarities in income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements around the world; the impact of foreign exchange rates on the financial statements of multinational corporations; the difficulty of measuring the value of employees compensation; the importance of income tax accounting and reporting, and the international standards convergence. The course will also address sustainability concepts related to international accounting regulations and corporate growth.
Prerequisite: MBA 6000 - Financial Accounting

This course covers investment banking but also more in general the overall domain of money, banking and financial markets. It introduces students to financial instruments, financial markets and financial institutions. It addresses topics such as, money and payment systems, monetary policy, nature and behavior of interest rates, the role of banks and the banking industry, banking and financial markets regulations, understanding risk, money markets, bond, stock and derivatives markets, foreign exchange, the role and policies of central banks, inflation and monetary policy, depository institutions. The course focus on banking, financial markets and economic sustainability.
Prerequisite: MBA 5500 - Introduction to Economics and Corporate Finance

This course focus on nonprofit organizations and on their intent to achieve a specific public service mission. The course explores the nonprofit organization business model, how to govern, manage and lead the nonprofit organization, how to obtain and manage resources, human resources and volunteer management in nonprofit institutions, the role of ethics, social responsibility and leadership in nonprofit organizations, the corporate governance and sustainability in nonprofit entities, the theories of nonprofit accountability and excellence, the legal and regulatory environment of charitable nonprofit organizations.
Prerequisite: None

This course addresses the theories and concepts of social entrepreneurship. Social Entrepreneurship aims to improve social and economic conditions and social goals. The course focuses on case studies that give students an understanding of various approaches to social entrepreneurship. The course focuses on topics such as, social enterprises and sustainability, fundraising, the social enterprise model and its mission, the socially entrepreneurial city, delivering on the promise of social entrepreneurship.
Prerequisite: MBA 6900 - Entrepreneurship

We live in a rapidly changing world, driven by the fast-paced innovations of the ICT industry and the real time communication devices such as internet. In this frantic social and business environment, information systems and its strategies play a central role in shaping today's and tomorrow's information needs. In this course students are trained on the information system principles and on the information technology. The course also provides the students a methodological framework for better understanding managing the current complex ICT environment and its implications in the business world in order to improve organizational effectiveness and efficiency. Specific topics include, the information systems in organizations, hardware and software, organizing data and Information, neTwork applications, telecommunications, the internet, intranets, and extranets, electronic commerce and transaction processing systems, Information and decision support systems, specialized information systems: artificial intelligence, expert systems, virtual reality, and other systems, systems development, security, privacy, and ethical Issues in information systems and the Internet, wireless, mobile computing and mobile commerce.
Prerequisite: None

In the latest years, due to the numerous conflict of interest issues and ethical problems which have negatively affected the corporate world with serious crises, companies have begun to pay closer attention to the critical role in their organizations of corporate governance to assure sustainable growth to their institutions and to all their stakeholders. The globalization phenomenon of the latest years have demonstrated the benefits and shortfalls of a truly global economy and society. For this reason, international corporate governance principles have become a central theme of MBA students curricula to assure adequate sustainability of the business organizations. In this course students will focus in particular on the following topics, international corporate governance principles, theories, processes, and code of practice, board members' roles and responsibilities, assessment of board and director performance, corporate governance rating systems, understanding the cultural aspects of different approaches to governance, corporate risk assessment, corporate social responsibility and sustainability.
Prerequisite: MBA 6800 - Business Strategy; MBA 6200 - Ethics, Law & Business

This course explores the corporate social responsibility to shareholders and stakeholders. The central theme of the course is based on the rationale that corporations have responsibility to society beyond that of simply making a profit. Students are encouraged to analyze the impact of managerial decisions on profitability, but also on responsibilities towards efficiency, sustainability, employees' welfare, consumers, and the wellbeing of the whole community. Furthermore, they are expected to evaluate how corporations should respond the demands of shareholder activists and the media on corporate social responsibility concerns, on globalization issues, and on all other challenges potentially affecting the wellbeing of the whole community. Further, the course will examine the best practice models of value of codes, credos, and other normative standards which have been developed to foster responsible corporate behavior. As key topics of the course will also be addressed the concepts of accountability, business ethics, sustainability and corporate citizenship. Extensive and systematic case study analyses will be applied to support classroom discussions on this topic.
Prerequisite: MBA 6200 - Ethics, Law & Business

This course covers the most relevant aspects of sustainable supply chain management in today's corporations. It addresses key topics related to sustainable supply chain management such as, building a strategic sustainability framework to analyze supply chains, designing the supply chain network, planning demand and supply in a supply chain, planning and managing inventories in a supply chain, managing a cross-functional drivers in a supply chain, sustainability and low-cost country sourcing, product design collaboration, forecasting, distribution system design, channel management, procurement, and logistics and others. It also explores the order fulfillment strategies and the impact of the Internet on distribution and back-end supply chain processes.
Prerequisite: MBA 6700 - Operations Management

This course aims to study multicultural communication and management approaches applied by corporations around the world. Key topics of this course include, cross-cultural communication, cultural sensitivity, ethics in the management of different cultures, multicultural management best practices, how to overcome cultural shock, communicating and negotiating across cultures, the challenges of managing cross-cultural group works and the central scope of sustainability.
Prerequisite: None

This course aims to study interpersonal relations and communication skills. In this course students learn how to develop an effective interpersonal communication ability applying the best theories and practices of interpersonal communication and relations. Key topics of this course include, models and principles of interpersonal communication, communication and personal identity, perception and communication, principles of verbal and nonverbal communication, mindful listening, emotions and communication, communication climate and personal relationships, managing conflicts in relationships, friendships and committed relationships, communication in families, sustainability orientation.
Prerequisite: None

This course introduces the students to a key competence and capability that managers and leaders have to master in order to fulfill their role successfully in all types of organizations. One of the key secrets of success in business management is related to adopting a savvy and experienced negotiation and conflict resolution skills. Typical topics of this course covers, the negotiation process, the flexibility of the master negotiator, executing a competitive negotiation, mastering the art of collaboration, mastering the art of compromise, multiparty negotiation, managing the power and influence process, master personal negotiations, master accommodation and avoidance strategies, negotiation and sustainability.
Prerequisite: None

This advanced economics course addresses topics related to international applied political economy from an historical perspective and from a contemporary perspective. Central topics of this course cover the rise of free trade areas, international trade, the multinational enterprise as an economic organization, strategic trade and investment policies, domestic politics of international monetary order, problems of international monetary cooperation, exchange rate politics, capital controls, protectionist trade policies, commerce and coalition, the political economy of trading States, the political economy of nontariff barriers, international development, globalization and inequality, inflation and stabilization, wages and the global labor market, sustainability, environmental protection, and free trade.
Prerequisite: MBA 6500 - Global Economics

This advanced economics course introduces the students to the growing importance of emerging markets economies. These new rapidly growing markets represent today a major opportunity for economic growth and development for the global economy. Key topics the students covers in this course are, emerging market entry preparation, assessing political risks, interpreting economic indicators, reaching the local market, manufacturing in emerging markets, making acquisitions work, dealing with corruption and crime, human resources, corporate social responsibility and s