MBA 501: Principles of Accounting (Pass/Fail)

4 credits
(Prerequisite to be determined by admissions)
The focus of this course is designed to provide the student with skills required to read and analyze financial information. Emphasis is placed on the impact that transactions and managerial decisions have on financial statements and the use and evaluation of those financial statements. This course is designed as a condensed course, either as a refresher-type accounting course or a "first look". The course avoids the traditional debit/credit approach to learning accounting. Rather than focus on the "bookkeeping" approach of journal entries, emphasis is placed on the impacts to financial statements.

MBA 511: Analysis of Individual Behavior

4 credits
The focus of this course is on developing the student’s skills to observe and affect individual behavior. The central tenets of the course are to gain the skills necessary to objectively observe individual behavior and to recognize the personal and emergent influencers that drive such behavior. Emphasis is also placed upon gaining the competencies necessary to see/project the implications of behavior on an organization’s effectiveness.

MBA 513: Economic Perspective and Analysis

4 credits
The focus of this course is on the understanding and application of basic economic principles and concepts that managers need in order to devise and implement operational and strategic plans within their organizations. The course provides an overview of applied microeconomics, macroeconomics, international trade and finance, as well as an introduction to public policy issues.

MBA 516: Quantitative Methods & Problem Solving

4 credits
The focus of this course is on developing the student’s process and ability to solve problems using quantitative tools, techniques, and analysis to find and fix business and management problems. Specific techniques include classical statistics, decision theory, regression, and simulation. Emphasis is on the interpretation of statistics in a variety of business issues.

MBA 521: Leadership, Management & Influence

4 credits
The focus of this course builds upon the knowledge and skills developed in MBA 511. The student explores the organizational influencers of behavior. The course employs a conceptual framework to integrate these into the mix of personal and emergent influencers that can drive the behavior of individual members of a firm. Central to the course is the acquisition of the leadership and management skills necessary to affect individual behavior to improve organizational performance.

MBA 523: Managerial Accounting & Control

4 credits
The focus of this course is on financial statement presentation and costs, the analytical tools necessary to understand them, and the controls required to ensure data reliability. Specific topics include GAAP, financial statements and analysis, cost systems, planning and control, relevant costs for decision-making, and the role of controls as a financial tool.

MBA 526: Business Management Simulation & Exercises

4 credits
The focus of this course is to acquaint students with the use of simulations to provide an opportunity to practice business and managerial skills. The course utilizes a computerized simulation as a vehicle to place the student in the position of making tactical and operational decisions inherent in the marketing management and sales functions. Emphasis is placed upon developing relevant business and management skills necessary to make such decisions and projecting the effects of such decisions on the performance of an organization as a whole. Simulations include group and individual behavior exercises, general business simulations, and games involving logic and critical thinking.

MBA 531: Managerial Finance

4 credits
The focus of this course is to review tools, concepts, and techniques concerning financial management and introduces the student to the concept of value-based management. Specific topics include financial principles, financial analysis, time value of money, capital structure, working capital management, long-term financing, and financial forecasting.

MBA 532: Managerial Marketing

4 credits
The focus of this course is to examine the marketing function in firms participating in both consumer and business-to-business markets, with primary emphasis on the concept of marketing management and its organizational role. Analysis of tactical and operating decisions and processes of the marketing function and the implications of such actions upon a firm as a whole are explored. Areas investigated include market and customer information, market segmentation, competitive analysis, market research, sustainable differentiation, and the marketing mix.

MBA 533: Operations Management

4 credits
The focus of this course is on developing the student's process and ability to solve problems using data and analysis. Emphasis is placed on developing the skills to identify problems, evaluate alternative actions and to justify and defend decisions and recommendations in order to find and fix problems across the organization. Specific topics covered include: a problem solving framework, decision criteria, root cause analysis, relevant costs, and process analysis. The focus of this course is to also develop the skills necessary to investigate and understand the operating process, measure and analyze such a process, and develop and evaluate plans for changing or refining the operating process.

MBA 534: Managerial Economics

4 credits
The course covers microeconomic concepts relevant to managerial decision-making. Topics include demand and supply analysis, consumer demand theory, forecasting, productions and cost analysis, market structure, risk analysis and regulatory theory. Application of the concepts to cases is used for an understanding of the economic tools and their potential use for solving real-world problems.

MBA 541: Corporate Financial Management

4 credits
The focus of this course is to emphasize value-based management. Specific topics include cost of capital, capital budgeting, valuation, and special topics.

MBA 542: Line Of Business Strategy

4 credits
The primary focus of this course is on achieving sustainable strategic differentiation at the line-of-business level. This requires the simultaneous evaluation and management of the organization’s internal (processes, structures, resources) and external (competitors, suppliers, other stakeholders) environment in an effort to satisfy the selected primary customer needs of the line-of-business strategy.

MBA 551: The Managerial Perspective

4 credits
The focus of this course is to serve as the capstone management course, which focuses on developing the skills to effectively design, staff, and operate a global organization, from the perspective of the general manager. Emphasis is also placed on developing the ability to analyze the ethical implications and tradeoffs of managerial decisions. Human resource management issues are also explored.

MBA 552: Corporate Strategy

4 credits
Building on line-of-business strategy, this course develops the student’s ability to anticipate, evaluate, and respond to stakeholders expectations within a corporate strategy perspective. This requires that the student develop the ability to simultaneously evaluate and manage the organization’s internal and external environment. Corporate strategy tasks include: articulating vision, determining shareholder expectations, choosing lines of business in which to operate, establishing boundaries, identifying capabilities and core competencies, acquiring and allocating resources, and managing inter-line of business activity fits and activities.

MBA 557: Management & Leadership Simulation

4 credits
The focus of this week-long management simulation is to extend the developmental process and learning by placing the student into a dynamic and complex business environment in which he/she takes on a managerial role and its subsequent responsibilities. Significant learning occurs as the student takes the learning out of the classroom, into action, and actually functions in a simulated, but very "real" environment that involves constant interaction with simulated superiors, peers, and subordinates. The DeVos Executive MBA and Managerial MBA students also participate in this simulation, adding an even greater level of realism to the event. Extensive behavioral and managerial feedback is provided to each student during and after the experience.

MBA 563: Internship/Practical Training

1 credit (Optional)
The course is offered to Full-time MBA students. The course counts toward the Full-time MBA requirements and provides students with opportunities to apply the theories and key themes established in the Full-time MBA core courses in a dynamic, real-life setting. Internships may be full-time or part-time, paid or unpaid. The student must complete a minimum of three semesters within the MBA program prior to enrollment in this course. MBA 563 may be initiated after completion of classroom requirements; however, it must be completed prior to receiving the diploma. Prerequisites will be determined at the discretion of the Dean of the DeVos Graduate School and/or Vice President of Academics at Northwood University. Pass/Fail

MBA 568: Entrepreneurship

4 credits
This course is the precursor to the Entrepreneurial Project (MBA 570). The course explores the phenomenon of entrepreneurship and the instincts of the entrepreneur from both established organization and the start-up venture perspectives. The start-up process is also analyzed as teams prepare to create the framework that will assist in developing and launching their respective new ventures.

MBA 570: Entrepreneurial Project

4 credits
This course is a team-based project requiring the development of a start-up venture of the team’s choice, from inception through implementation. The project is structured in an independent nature between the team and a designated faculty member. Final completion requires the team to formulate a complete business plan and prepare and present a formal presentation to a finance committee.