MBA Degree Online - Argosy University - Crouse List

Course List - MBA Degree Online - Distance learning education online at Argosy University

Program Requirements
The Master of Business Administration Program requires the satisfactory completion of 4 Prerequisite courses and 36 semester credit hours distributed as follows:

4 Prerequisite Courses
24 credit hours in core courses
12 credit hours in elective courses (Must choose one concentration: Finance Marketing, or Management)
All courses are 3 semester credit hours in length.

Prerequisite Course Requirements
Students are required to complete the following four prerequisite courses either at the undergraduate or graduate level. Students must complete these courses or transfer in their equivalent prior to beginning the core requirements of the MBA Program. The student will be notified during the admission process if one or more of these courses are needed.

Undergraduate-Level Prerequisite Course Requirements — Students May Be Required to Take the Following

B5003 Principles of Accounting
This course provides an introduction to the preparation and use of accounting principles. Emphasis is on basic accounting procedures, measurement of income and expense, working capital, and investments. Includes material on corporations, capital budgeting, and interpretation of financial statements.

B5001 Macroeconomics
This course provides a study of economic analysis of the factors at work in the marketplace. Emphasis is placed on the study of macroeconomics. The study of the determination of income, output, employment, and prices in the economy are also examined.

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B5002 Microeconomics
This course places an emphasis on the study of microeconomics. A descriptive and analytical study of the market economy, it includes market structures, pricing, and distribution of wealth and income.

B5004 Financial Management
An introduction to the processes and principles involved in financial management. Practical emphasis is given to corporate entities, capital markets, as well as stock markets. Basic principles such as financial ratios and other financial measurements are examined.

B5005 Managing Decision Models
Problem analysis and evaluation techniques are presented. Students are shown methods for defining, researching, analyzing, and evaluating a problem they would solve in their work or vocational environment. Specific statistical information covered in the course includes identifying and measuring objectives, formulating hypotheses, collecting data, working with levels of significance, analyzing variance, and constructing questionnaires.

Required Core Courses
There are 24 credit hours in core courses needed for the Master of Business Administration Program.

B6021 Managerial Accounting
Managerial accounting helps direct the financial activities of managers within the organization and has a strong emphasis on the future direction of the organization. This course examines the role of managerial accounting as it impacts organizational decision-making. It also reviews the analytical methodologies and performance measurements that are an integral part of the system of financial control within a business. Emphasis is placed on the critical thinking and decisionmaking ability of corporate managers.

B6022 Financial Management
This course studies the conceptual framework for analyzing financial decisions based on contemporary principles of financial theory. The focus is on the development of corporate financial policy with emphasis on capital structure, cost of capital, and dividend policy. Students will examine discounting cash flow techniques, capital budgeting, and managing risk in investment decisions.

B6023 Strategic and Operational Planning
Students learn how to develop the skills and concepts needed to ensure the ongoing contribution of a firm's operations to its competitive position. Typically this requires the firm to achieve, at a minimum cost, quality and economic parity, responsiveness and adaptability to customer needs and desires, rapid time to market, process technology, and sufficient and responsive capacity. Topics encompass all elements of coherent operation systems, process analysis, cross-functional and cross firm integration, product development, and technology and operations strategy.

B6024 Information Management
This course addresses managing information resources and providing support services for users from a general management perspective. Information resources include internally and externally developed information (past, present and future), local and global communications networks and associated hardware and software technology; personnel and users; and operational and management systems. Support services include training and support for users and operational practices and security for electronic commerce. Best practices for the entire information technology management team are examined.

B6025 Management Decision Models
This course offers students the opportunity to learn and apply specific methods, techniques and topics related to statistics and quantitative analyses. Students design analyses around professional problems in their organizations or an organization in which they choose to enhance efficiency or effectiveness. Successful managers and decision makers are able to understand and effectively use the tremendous amount of information available to them. This course provides practical applications and a critical thinking perspective for business managers.

B6026 Marketing Planning and Strategy
Organizations do not always have a clear understanding of marketing, the components of developing a marketing strategy, and the elements of planning and implementing a marketing plan. This course emphasizes the identification, analysis, and selection of target markets; development and management of product/service lines; pricing; demand analysis and forecasting; distribution systems; and advertising and promotions. Major forces impacting marketing strategy, such as electronic marketing, one-to-one marketing, consumer trends, competition, and regulating forces, are examined. Students diagnose marketing problems, identify opportunities at operational and strategic levels, and develop a marketing plan for their organization or an organization they choose to enhance.

B6027 Perspectives in Change Leadership
This course focuses on the essence of leadership and management, including the behaviors, attitudes, and perspectives that distinguish leaders. Effective strategies for developing managers and leaders in the context of modern organizations are emphasized. Leadership dilemmas and issues are analyzed (e.g., ethics, decision making, motivation, conflict management, managing change, diversity, healthy utilization of power and authority). A multidisciplinary approach will be used to explore new demands and relevant strategies for effective leadership. Individuals will be helped to identify their leadership style.

B6028 Solutions to Organizational Challenges [Capstone Course]
This is a Capstone Course that "puts it all together" through a program application project. Students must complete a minimum of 30 semester credit hours before taking this course. The course is intended to help students frame unstructured business problems. Students must identify the central issues and determine the most appropriate tools and concepts from the core curriculum to apply in order to gain insight into these issues. This approach helps develop a cross-functional approach to business issues. Students are engaged in a project with an outside organization of their own choosing and receive extensive feedback as they carry out the project. Their project is presented to a faculty panel acting as decision makers for the organization.

Concentration Requirements
Students are required to take four courses (12 credit hours) in the area of their concentration (must choose one: Finance, Management or Marketing). In some instances, students may elect to take a combination of 6000-level courses to fulfill the concentration area requirements if approved by the campus dean or program chair. The dean of the College of Business and Information Technology must approve all such exceptions.

Students Take the Following to Finance Concentration Requirements
B6201 Investment/Portfolio Management
This course explores theory and techniques that are basic for the control of investment risks and optimization of investment returns. This course analyzes contemporary theories such as the Random Walk, Market Efficiency, Portfolio Theory, Security Analysis and techniques of security selection and availability to the institutional portfolio manager. Topics include analysis of securities and security market operations, theories of market behavior, and application in selection of personal and corporate investment strategies. Students focus on the role of the modern portfolio manager in achieving diversification along with reviewing and evaluating client investment goals.

B6206 Global Finance
This course explores managing international business and global competition with an understanding of international financial instruments, markets and institutions. Topics include foreign exchange risk, determination of exchange rates and interest rates, management of foreign exchange risk with forwards, options, and swaps; exchange rate forecasting; the a review of currency speculative attacks; and dynamics of the balance of payments with focus on understanding international capital flows, country debt and exchange rate fluctuations.

B6520 Financial Decision Making
Financial decision making is explored with focus on special topics through case studies such as lease versus buy, Venture Capital and other private equity investing, real estate finance, matching corporate strategy with organizational financing, and tax planning.

B6622 Capital Markets
This course teaches students how to finance an organization by focusing on financial aspects in terms of original and growth capital. Topics include pro-forma development and review, business valuation modes, financing startups, going public, selling out, cash flow analysis and raising capital from private investors, venture capitalists, vendors, insurance companies and banks.

Students take the Following to Marketing Concentration Requirements
B6303 Marketing Research for Decision-Making
This course focuses on the importance of marketing research for making sound marketing strategy decisions. The course details the stages of the marketing research process including: the purpose of the research, designing the plan for the research, performing the research, and preparing the research report. The course identifies marketing information systems and highlights the marketing decision support system.

B6311 Marketing Behavior and Decision Making
This course focuses on the consumer and business-to-business decision making processes of which can be extensive, limited, or routine. Consumers proceed through multiple stages to reach a purchasing decision, usually personal and often impulsive, when they purchase from businesses. Topics include need recognition, alternative search, alternative evaluation, purchase decision, postpurchase evaluation. The course highlights how the process is influenced by social, marketing, and situational factors. In parallel, business-to-business (B2B) marketing behaviors and decisions are different in their purchasing issues: purchasing decisions, providing a problem-solving solution, long-term profitable relationships; product development, branding, communications channels, promotions, pricing/discounts/quantities.

B6320 Integrated Marketing Communications
This course focuses on the marketing communications tools, techniques and media used in the business world. Creating the right customer focus requires a coordination and integration of multiple elements: promotion, advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, public relations, licensing, sponsorships, and customer services. The goal of the course is to present an integrated marketing strategy through the unification of all communications tools providing a comprehensive message to targeted customers.

B6604 International Marketing
This course focuses on the opportunities, problems, and challenges involved in international marketing. The course examines the methods companies use to organize their international versus domestic markets, international market research tasks, methods of entry strategies in the international markets, and potential marketing strategies for a multinational firm. Knowledge of local cultural environments is high-lighted as a prerequisite for success.

Students are Required to Take the Following to Management Concentration Requirements
B6003 Ethics in Business
This course introduces the manager to common ethical issues faced in business settings, including for-profit-only issues, community concerns, impacts on the environment, an examination of stakeholder concerns, and treatment of employees.

B6110 Supply Chain Optimization and Outsourcing
Supply Chain Management encompasses development of integrated strategies in managing over-all costs, attaining profit goals, and satisfying customers. Building on the implementation of enterprise software and new applications, leaders are better able to plan sales revenue, schedule production, set optimal inventory levels, plan distribution/warehousing and global logistics, source goods and services strategically, and finance operations through better working capital management. Recognition is also given to important interrelationships among sales management, logistics, production, marketing, and financial management. This course also focuses on outsourcing as a corporate strategy to reduce costs, improve cycle time, customer service and improve the overall performance of the supply chain. The human resource implications and challenges inherent in implementing outsourcing will be addressed and the pros and cons of this strategy debated in class. Requirements of the course will include case analyses.

B6120 Communications Strategies for Managers
This course focuses on the development of effective communication strategies and their applications in various organizational contexts and with different stakeholder groups. Topics covered include defining the organizational communications culture and styles, audience assessment, overcoming communications barriers, communications etiquette, and ethical dimensions of communications. Techniques covered include preparation of memos and business reports, business correspondence using email and hard copy formats, preparing and delivering oral reports, and facilitating discussions.

B6125 Leadership and Organizational Behavior
This course includes an exploration of the diverse determinants and organizational consequences of both individual and group behavior within formal organizations. Emphasis is on theories, concepts, and empirical findings from behavioral theory that will help leaders understand and motivate members and teams of an organization. Featured in this course are case studies of actual business situations.

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