Curriculum

Intensive practice in forms of communication specifically for business settings, geared to the student's level of prior preparation. The focus will be primarily on oral communication and writing to support the oral communication. Emphasis on communicating complex issues and quantitative data to inform, advocate or persuade.

Prerequisite: None

Introduces the roles, concepts, principles, legal requirements, and impacts of external financial reporting. Covers basic financial statements and the analysis and recording of transactions, with a focus towards interpretation of reported results. Studies the more common and significant transactions impacting firms.

Prerequisite: None

This course will introduce economic foundation for managerial decisions. The course analyzes the economic behavior of individuals and firms and explores how their interactions in markets affect managerial decisions. Basic concept of market, price elasticity, theory of consumer and theory of firm will be studied to incorporate economic theories in managerial decision making. How key managerial decisions are made in different industrial structures will be discussed.

Prerequisite: OMIS 3202

This course provides an introduction to finance. It addresses the theory and practice of financial management, the generation and allocation of financial resources. The main objective is to provide a foundation in the basic concepts of finance, including the time value of money, cash and working capital management, the role of financial markets, portfolio theory, asset pricing, and the risk-return tradeoff, and to expand awareness of institutions and practices in business and finance.

Prerequisite: ACTG 3000

Provides students with theories, frameworks, and empirical research on the topic of leadership and team dynamics to help students enhance their own leadership capabilities. Topics include empirically-grounded models of leadership, importance of self-awareness in leadership, effective group & team dynamics, group decision-making, conflict resolution, and design thinking.

Prerequisite: None

This course is an introduction to business ethics that focuses specifically on the kinds of ethical issues that managers typically encounter. Course topics include the psychological factors that influence moral decision-making, normative approaches for dealing with ethical issues in management, and application of these concepts to cases describing real life ethical dilemmas managers have faced in a variety of organizational and environmental settings.

Prerequisite: None

This course focuses on how managers position their businesses to create and sustain an advantage relative to rivals in the face of uncertainty, rapid change, and competition. Strategy involves understanding the utility of different choices and tradeoffs -- choosing what actions to avoid is as important as choosing what to do. As a result, the course covers a variety of tools, frameworks, theories and concepts for analyzing a firm's strategic position and the environment in which it is operating. By uncovering the factors that make some strategic positions strong and viable, students develop the ability to evaluate the effects of changes in resources and capabilities, industry forces, macro environmental forces, and technology on industry structure and firm behavior and, in turn, on a firm's opportunities for establishing and sustaining a superior position relative to rivals.

Prerequisite: ALL Core courses

Focuses on decisions faced by managers concerning market segmentation, targeting, and positioning. Covers concepts such as new product development, pricing strategies, distribution channels, customer relationships, and performance metrics within a strategic planning framework. Students apply these key concepts and frameworks to cases and to formulating a comprehensive marketing plan centered on sustainable profitability and capabilities. Cases cover various environments and industries, especially those of concern to Silicon Valley firms.

Prerequisite: None

Introduces the Silicon Valley business ecosystem with a focus on how innovative new companies are launched, financed, and built into the next generation of market leaders. Includes the foundation for effective business communication.

Prerequisite: None

Business Analytics is the scientific analysis of data to make better business decisions. Students in this course will learn to use analytics platforms across a wide variety of applications such as marketing, finance, and supply chain management. They will become familiar with current technological environments for statistical/machine learning and visualization.

Prerequisite: OMIS 3202

Introduces probability and statistical analysis, emphasizing applications to managerial decision problems. Discusses descriptive statistics, probability theory, sampling distributions, statistical estimation, hypothesis testing, and simple and multiple regressions. Additional topics may include exploratory data analysis, analysis of variance, and contingency tables

Prerequisite: None

This course covers how to rigorously formulate decision problems, understand mathematical optimization, deal with the uncertainties inherent in real business problems, while introducing computer-modeling tools like important Excel add-ons, R, Mathematica, CrystalBall, and \@Risk.

Prerequisite: OMIS 3200

Introduces the information technology infrastructures that enable within and across firm operations, and the competitive advantages that information technology can offer various firms. Focuses on how firms effectively utilize information technology resources in their business models and operations.

Prerequisite: OMIS 3200

This course introduces how firms get the right products and services to the right people, in the right place, at the right time and cost. In addition to firms that provide physical goods, this course covers information-enabled, supply- demand matching networks like Uber and AirBnB that vastly reduce cost and increase convenience in operationally intensive industries

Prerequisite: OMIS 3202

Students are required to take at least one of the courses on the "Challenges in" elective list during their final quarter of the program. If pre-requisites and scheduling allows, students are able to take additional "Challenges in" elective as part of their free electives. These classes are case-style.

Prerequisite: Taken in the last quarter of the program.

Elective courses expand a student's knowledge in areas of particular interest or importance to the student's career and educational goals. Electives may be taken any time during the program assuming the prerequisite coursework is complete. Electives can also be used to earn a concentration in a particular discipline. Any course offered in conjunction with the MBA program, with the exception of those otherwise required, is considered an elective. For descriptions of elective courses, please consult the website. New courses are continually being developed and may not be listed.