In this course students will experience entrepreneurship firsthand by coming up with an entrepreneurial endeavor that they will pitch to expert jury at the end of the course after applying the design thinking and lean start-up methodologies. First, students will define a problem that they would like to solve using the design thinking process and then brainstorm multiple solutions and select the best using a sound selection mechanism. Using the lean startup methodology, they will come up with a business plan for this business in parallel to creating a prototype and financial projections for the first three years. This experience is culminated with creating a pitch deck and pitching the entrepreneurial initiative in front of expert external jury. The course helps students to understand and experience the mindset of an entrepreneur. (Co-requisite ENTM 220)
This course delivers the frameworks and tools needed to design and implement a successful digital marketing strategy that achieves the business objectives. Topics covered include Social Media and web analytics, influencer marketing, online campaigning, and online customer relationship marketing. The course molds together marketing, analytics, and strategy in the context of social media in a collaborative learning approach that engages students through case studies, guest speakers, hands-on social media tool usage, and an individual final project. (Prerequisites: MKTG210 & ENGL 204)
Today business analytics is helping organizations in every industry to use information for business advantage. It is helping them meet objectives like competitive differentiation, growth, and cost management by making choices about what markets to pursue, how to configure and price offerings, and how to make operations more effective and efficient. Nowadays, companies are immersed in massive amounts of data. They are more and more challenged with how to convert these data into actionable business insights. This course introduces applied data mining techniques including data processing and a set of data analytics tools related to predictive modeling such as classification and regression trees, logistic regression, artificial neural networks, and other techniques. Students will learn how to use these tools to provide practical solutions to problems faced by today's businesses. They will gain knowledge on how to improve decision making by adopting data analytics approach. The course is designed for advanced undergraduate students and features the use of data mining software. Case studies and practical examples will be extensively presented throughout the course. (Prerequisites: BUSS 200)
This course develops an in-depth understanding of the theory of accounting, traditional financial accounting topics, conceptual framework, major financial statements form and content, accounting systems, and valuation. It also covers recent developments in financial reporting and measurement practices as promulgated by the leading professional accounting organisation and applied by practitioners in public accounting and Industry. (Prerequisites: ACCT 210)
DCSN 210 Business LogisticsThis course aims to provide the knowledge and the tools necessary to develop, implement, and sustain strategies for managing supply chains. (Prerequisites: DCSN 200)
DCSN 217 Total Quality Management for Business ExcellenceThis course focuses on the concepts related to quality in all aspects of enterprise operations with special emphasis on the customer. Total Quality Management (TQM) is a comprehensive and fundamental rule or belief for leading and operating an organization, aimed at continually improving performance over the long term by focusing on customers while addressing the needs of all stakeholders. It is both a philosophy and a set of guiding principles that represent the foundation of a continuously improving organization. The bottom line of TQM is results: increased productivity, efficiency, customer satisfaction/delight, and world-class performance. This course will present the various TQM frameworks, concepts, and quality improvement tools necessary for implementing the quality culture that characterizes world-class organizations of the 21st century. The course will revolve around the core values and the criteria for performance excellence embodied in the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the highest award for performance excellence in U.S. organizations and which is increasingly being adopted worldwide as the operational definition of a world-class enterprise. We will, therefore, explore the key actions necessary for transforming business and not-for-profit organizations into world-class organizations that deliver ever-improving value to their customers, clients, and constituents. (Prerequisites: DCSN 200)
DCSN 211 Pricing and Revenue ManagementThe course focuses, at a tactical level, on how to integrate pricing, sales and product design decisions to create and extract maximal value. (Co-requisite: BUSS 200)
DCSN 212 Introduction to Project ManagementThis course explores technical and managerial challenges of project management in general. The topics addressed in this course range from project selection techniques, project planning, budgeting, risk analysis, resource management to project monitoring and termination. The goal is to understand how project management decisions are reached, what tradeoffs are made, and how outcomes depend on the underlying situation. Decision analysis tools such as linear/non-linear programming and spread sheet simulation are utilized. Software packages used are Microsoft Project, Risk Solver/Crystal Ball and Excel Solver. (Prerequisites: DCSN 200, BUSS 200)
ACCT 250R Financial Statement AnalysisA course that covers the relevance and process of accounting and financial analyses within the broader theme of business analysis. The focus is on informational role of accounting, the quality of reporting, the analysis of financing, investing, and operating activities, as well as of different aspects of an entity's financial performance and financial position – all towards the ultimate purpose of informed decision-making.
BUSS 249 Strategic ManagementStrategic Management is the senior capstone course for all business administration majors. What this means is that it is an integrative, big-picture course.
In this course, students acquire the tools to apply business fundamental knowledge acquired in previous foundation courses to strategy formulation, implementation, and evaluation/control approaches. Students are required to use this new knowledge, as well as knowledge acquired from other functional area courses such as human resources, marketing, accounting, finance, operations and information technology, to identify current problems and chart the future direction of different businesses and industries.
In sum, through this course, the student culminates his/her undergraduate curriculum through the application of core functional foundation concepts in an integrative way to various business situations. (Prerequisites: ACCT 215, FINA 210, MNGT 215, MKTG 210, BUSS200, BUSS215, INFO 200, DCSN 200)
BUSS 211 Business LawThe main objective of the course is to help students understand the legal aspects of common American, European, and international business activities and the formation and functioning of commercial entities. This is accomplished through lectures, in-class discussion, and reading and analysis of court cases using the American case law method of legal education. Business law is an essential course for all business students. It provides future managers with the knowledge of various terms of law and basic legal rights and responsibilities. It also provides critical thinking skills and the ability to understand how individuals interact within the legal system, the laws, concepts and rules which dictate the behavior in such interactions, and awareness of the rules that regulate and protect commercial activity. In this course students will also apply concepts from other functional areas of management practice such as human resource management, marketing, accounting and finance to solve legal problems.
BUSS 250 Management ConsultingA course that exposes students to the basics of management consulting industry. Emphasis will be placed on understanding of the industry context, specific activities of the consulting process and learning the necessary analytical and interpersonal skills required for successful performance of consultant's duties. At the end of the course, the students will be able to view problems from the perspective of practicing experts in the field, apply course theories and principles to provide consulting services to actual clients and prepare solutions to case studies utilizing acquired technical expertise and experience. (Prerequisites: MNGT 215, ENGL 204)
DCSN 250A Operations Management IIBuilding on Operations Management (DCSN 200), the course focuses on the basic concepts, issues, and techniques for efficient and effective operations. Special emphasis is placed on process improvement and resources planning. Topics include Operations Strategy, Locations and Layout Strategies, Lean Operations, Human Resources, Job Design and Work Measurement, Aggregate Planning S&OP, Material Requirements Planning (MRP) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Maintenance and Reliability, Learning Curves and Short Term Scheduling. (Prerequisites: DCSN 200)
ENTM 225 Business Environment of The FirmThis course discusses the environment related problems in small firms and the process of analyzing them to identify possible solutions. In addition, it provides a variety of tools and concepts, including strategy design, cash flow management, HR development and IT planning, to business management. It emphasizes corporate social responsibility, ethics, government regulation, global influences and historical background of these themes connecting them in a management perspective. (Prerequisites: MNGT 215)
ENTM 235 Family Business: Issues and SolutionsThis course focuses on family businesses: their importance, structure, governance, management, challenges; issues and solutions relating to succession, inheritance, business continuity, family vs. non family management, and rivalry between siblings, cousins, or across generations. (Prerequisites: MNGT 215)
ENTM 240 Social EntrepreneurshipA social enterprise is a hybrid organization that applies commercial strategies and uses market mechanisms to solve social issues. This course provides a foundation for students to understand social entrepreneurship. It reviews various schools of thought and perspectives on social entrepreneurship's role in tackling social issues, while covering concrete tools for students to begin to engage communities, identify a problem, and develop an innovative solution. (Prerequisites: MNGT 215)
ENTM 270 Launching a New VentureThis course focuses on the founding and development of new business organizations. It identifies the threats to survival of new firms, and the practical actions entrepreneurs may take to overcome them and successfully grow their venture. (Prerequisites: FINA 210 & MNGT 215)
FINA 215 Financial Markets and InstitutionsThis course offers students a broad understanding of how financial markets work. As any other market, financial markets are centered on a certain good (money) and are subject to the forces of supply (lenders) and demand (borrowers) that determine equilibrium price (interest rate). However, unlike other markets, various products can be derived from money, like loans, bonds, equity, mortgages, foreign exchange and financial derivatives. This feature makes the study of financial markets very dynamic. The course explores the determinants of interest rates and their impact on asset pricing. The material covered include securities markets and their embedded risks, fintech and digital currencies and their disruptive impact on financial markets and institutions. It also covers the working of financial institutions including Commercial Banks, Investment Banks, Mutual Funds, Pension Funds and Insurance companies. Although financial institutions vary in their financial intermediation activities, they all face common risks. The course sheds light on how to measure and manage such risks. (Prerequisites: FINA 210)
FINA 220 Investment ManagementA study of the operations of securities markets, investment policies, valuation of individual securities, and techniques of investing in securities. This course also introduces students to analysis of investment information, evaluation of risks and returns, and principles of portfolio selection in investment decisions. (Prerequisites: FINA 210)
FINA 222 Valuation MethodsThis course covers techniques used by investment bankers and analysts for enterprise valuation. The techniques used are divided into intrinsic valuation and relative valuation. Intrinsic valuation includes dividend discount models, free cash flow to equity, free cash flow to firm. Relative valuation measures are price-to-earnings, price-to-sales, price- tobook, price-to-cash flow. The focus is on applications and insights as to when and why we use one measure versus another. ( Prerequisites: FINA 210)
FINA 225 Commercial Bank ManagementThis course offers students a broad understanding of the working of commercial banks, analyzing their financial statements and providing the tools needed to evaluate banks' performance. The first part of the course introduces the various risks facing commercial banks and how to measure and manage these risks. The second part examines asset- liability management strategies (ALCO), including liquidity management and managing and pricing of bank deposits. The third part will explore commercial banks' lending policies and procedures, pricing of business loans, credit scoring using both traditional data sources and unstructured big data sources. The course sheds light in the fourth part of the course on managing commercial banks' capital under Basel 1, 2, and 3 and conclude by how to prepare banks for a digital future. (Prerequisites: FINA 210)
FINA 228 Risk ManagementThis course provides an introduction to the risks faced by financial and nonfinancial institutions. These risks include interest rate, liquidity, operational, market and credit risk. Students will acquire a thorough understanding of the measures of market and credit risk such as Value at Risk (VaR), Expected Shortfall (ES), default probabilities and credit VaR. The course also introduces stress testing, scenario analysis as well as the use of derivatives to hedge risk. (Prerequisites: FINA 210)
FINA 230 International Financial ManagementThe course is a finance elective course aimed at students who opt for a concentration in finance. The course entails analysis of the opportunities, problems, and financial decisions confronting multinational companies. The focus of the course is on understanding international regulatory and environment differences, access to money and capital markets, use of derivatives to hedge exchange rate risk, exposure to political risk and other types of risk, and international diversification. (Prerequisites: FINA 210)
FINA 241 Venture Capital ManagementA course that addresses special types of financing for capital investment proposals. The course will use the case approach to assess the organization and strategies of the private equity industry, the use of financial and economic tools in leveraged buyout and venture capital investing, types of private equity transactions, study of transactions with options and hybrid financing structures, financing of IPOs, incubators, and corporate venture capital. (Prerequisites: FINA 210)
FINA 244 Derivative SecuritiesThis course introduces the students to the basic functioning of derivatives markets and the pricing of derivatives contracts. The pricing of contingent claims such as forwards, futures, swaps, and options will be covered in detail. The course also examines how financial institutions use derivatives contracts to hedge risk. (Prerequisites: FINA 210)
INFO 225 Enterprise Systems Design and ImplementationThis course provides students a deeper understanding of business processes and enterprise systems. Different cross-functional business processes are covered, with an emphasis on how they interact to successfully deliver the business functions of an enterprise. The concepts in the course are reinforced using Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications. The course also covers how enterprise data can be used to derive business insights and analytics. The following topical areas are emphasized in the course: business processes and enterprise systems, process integration, systems implementation, and enterprise systems for business analytics. (Prerequisites: INFO 200)
INFO 226 System Development and Database DesignThis course emphasizes the issues facing businesses and management in the development of information systems: properly formulating business problems; targeting the appropriate processes and functions; and the requisite design and implementation processes. This course also introduces the central role of database management systems (DBMS) and their applications in the business IT/IS environment. Cases and real-life business needs will underscore these issues. (Prerequisites: INFO 200)
MKTG 225 Strategic Brand ManagementThis course deals with brands—why they are important, what they represent to consumers, and what firms should do to manage them properly. As many business executives correctly recognize, perhaps one of the most valuable assets a firm owns are the brands it has invested in and developed over time. Although competitors can often duplicate manufacturing processes and factory designs, it's not so easy to reproduce strongly held beliefs and attitudes established in the minds of consumers. In this course, students learn the importance of Building, Managing, and measuring the performance of a brand through its equity. The main concepts covered are unique to this course with a main focus on building, managing, measuring and communicating strong brands by developing an Integrated Marketing Communication strategy. (Prerequisites: MKTG210 & ENGL 204)
MKTG 231 Customer Experience DesignCustomer experience is a term that extends beyond traditional definitions of marketing, customer service, customer satisfaction and loyalty. It refers to the sum of all interactions the customer has with a company's brand. Successful companies like Apple, Starbucks, Netflix etc. strive to create holistic experiences for customers that include emotive, sensory, identity value to create strong and enduring customer-brand bonds, which are difficult for competitors to copy or break. (Prerequisites: MKTG 210 & ENGL 204)
MKTG 240 Consumer BehaviorThis course focuses on the customer as the key to market success. Topics covered include the roles of a customer, market values a customer seeks, determinants of customer behavior, the customer's mind-set, customer decision-making, and customer-focused marketing.
Consumer Behavior is the course within the marketing curriculum that most directly applies concepts, principles, and theories from the various social sciences to the study of the factors that influence the acquisition, consumption, and disposition of products and services. Knowledge of consumer behavior principles is becoming increasingly important for the marketing manager and the public policy maker. Principles from a number of disciplines are used to describe and explain consumer behavior, including economics, psychology, social psychology, sociology, and anthropology. (Prerequisites: MKTG 210 & ENGL 204)
MKTG 250J Digital Content Creation for BusinessesUsing real-life cases and exercises, this course will teach students how to develop and produce the content required to activate the business's online brand strategy. This hands- on course is interdisciplinary and will cover: Understanding content objectives, briefs, and calendars, picking the right medium, and producing multimedia content including videos, photos, visuals, and copywriting. The course will also familiarize students with cross- platform campaigns and with content optimization for multiple audiences. (Prerequisites: MKTG 210, ENGL 204)
MKTG 250L Fashion and Luxury MarketingCombining style and strategy, this course aims to inspire and equip a new generation of brand leaders with an understanding of the practice, passion, and impact of the luxury and fashion industries. What is luxury? How has the luxury world evolved? How are luxury brands built? How do luxury and fashion brands infiltrate culture? How do they communicate? Who buys them and why? What are the trends in this space? The learning plan will span specificities of the luxury industry, the evolution of communication strategies, luxury and fashion consumer profiles and behavior, brand identity, stories and experiences. It will enable students to understand luxury brand strategy, create desire and purpose, balance brand and performance, design with inclusivity and sustainability in mind, and respond to fashion futures. (Prerequisites: MKTG 210, ENGL 204)
MNGT 218 Advanced Topics in Organizational BehaviorThe course explores in depth human behavior in organizations. Particular emphasis is placed on the role of leaders in organizations. Theoretical frameworks and research, case discussions, and skill-oriented activities are applied. The course participants will be offered several tools of work related personal dispositions, enabling systematic self – and other assessment in terms of work related personal dispositions. (Prerequisites: MNGT 215, ENGL 204)
MNGT 220 Human Resource ManagementA course that deals with understanding and managing human capital as a major strategic asset, macro and micro manpower planning, skill surveying, management learning, de- learning and relearning, results-driven performance in the age of virtual organizations and telecommuting, and knowledge workers in a rapidly changing corporate context within a knowledge global economy. (Prerequisites: MNGT 215 & ENGL 204)
MNGT 223 Cross Cultural ManagementThe purpose of this course is to prepare you for professional life in the modern world by:
- Sensitizing the scope and nature of cross-cultural environment;
- Elevating the knowledge of cross-cultural business; and
- Cultivating the proficiency in cross-cultural communication.
More concretely, the course provides a collection of cross-cultural business 'tools'— models, theories, frameworks, perspectives, concepts, ideas, etc.—which are required for success in the global economy. The course also provides opportunities to practice these tools through hands-on experiential activities in which will work in a multi-cultural team of students from three partner institutions: University of Michigan (USA), the American University in Cairo, and the Benghazi Youth for Technology and Entrepreneurship in Libya. The course will increase knowledge of the global business environment in general, and of the American, Egyptian, and Libyan business environments more specifically. It will improve the ability to work in a (cross-cultural, geographically-dispersed team) team. And it will strengthen the ties to other like-minded young business people in the USA, Lebanon, and Libya. (Prerequisites: MNGT 215, ENGL 204)
MNGT 266 Selection and AssessmentThis course provides students with advanced knowledge of methods of assessment in the context of selection in organizations across cultures. It provides students with an understanding of how selection decisions are made by and about individuals in the workplace. While providing students with theoretical background relating to the development and use of different tools of assessment, students will apply their knowledge practically in organizational settings. (Prerequisites: MNGT215 & ENGL 204)
MNGT 230 International ManagementAn understanding of international business is essential for students in today's interdependent global world. This course discusses the basic challenges of managing an international operation, challenges such as: understanding one's host-country environment, being sensitive to cross-cultural differences, seeing the world as an integrated strategic reality, and being able to deal with the complexities of managing operations separated by economic, political, cultural and social barriers. It also considers the new realities in international management, realities such as: new external demands, new strategic responses, new organizational capabilities, and new managerial competencies. (Prerequisites: MNGT 215 & ENGL 204)
MNGT 231 Judgment and Decision-MakingThis course will explore what psychological and social forces derail our rational thinking. Furthermore, how often we turn a blind eye to objective information. Making decisions, even very simple ones is a tricky business and we are not very good at it. Not only do we make many bad decisions in the course of our careers but we tend not to change our minds even in the face of new evidence and we tend not to learn from our mistakes. The course also explores why we make many non-rational decisions due to the lack of information, time and cost constraints, limits to our logic and intelligence, self-serving motives, limited willpower and weak ethics, biased perceptions which constrain our ability to accurately calculate and evaluate optimal choice, limits in our awareness of our past, our surroundings, our preferences and the choices available to us.(Prerequisites: MNGT 215 & ENGL 204)
MNGT 250P Innovation ManagementThis course will explore the theory and practice of innovation as a process and an outcome based on a comprehensive model of innovation consisting of three determinants: innovation leadership, managerial levers and business processes. It will help develop managerial skills and professional expertise needed to develop a sustainable innovation practice within an organization.
This is a fast paced course based on best practices in industry and the most up to date and important strategic and innovation management academic material. Students should be prepared to devote time to readings and outside work for this course. All business students aspiring to be on the cutting edge of global management practices are welcome. This course is for those who have inquisitive mind, passion for learning new things, diligent study habits and a strong spirit of teamwork. As in physics, the outcome of this course in terms of knowledge, skills, enjoyment and grades will be in direct proportion to the efforts you will exert.
We will work hard and play hard. (Prerequisites: MNGT 215, ENGL 204)
MNGT 250S Gender, Work and Inclusive Human Resource SystemsThis course raises awareness and deepens understanding of the significant role of gender and diversity in contemporary work organizations. It offers multiple perspectives to analyze issues of gender and diversity at the levels of identity, organizational practices and society. The course provides students with conceptual and practical tools to critically examine social and organizational practices of exclusion and inclusion. The course further develops students' reflective skills in detecting how they, and the organizations they are participating in are doing gender and diversity. Moreover, students learn how they can act as change agents in making exclusionary practices visible and creating inclusive workplaces. During the course students will also develop their writing, group working as well as presentation skills.
The course is designed to provide students with the necessary analytic tools to deepen their grasp of the challenges of building more inclusive workplaces by drawing from different foundational perspectives; including: Managerial, Social Justice, and Critical- Feminist. The course provides variant rationales for building these more inclusive systems. The course also provides a glimpse of advancing a gender perspective in national and regional HRD concerns tied to appropriately navigating the complexities of local business embedded within harsh geopolitical forces and transnational markets of the Arab Region. (Prerequisites: MNGT 215 & ENGL 204)
MNGT 250T Training & DevelopmentThis course introduces students to the theories, application, and skills development aspects of Training & Development. Students will learn how to assess, design, develop, implement, & evaluate a training program. In this regard, concepts of training, including total needs assessment, Employees'/trainees' learning motivations, learning & transfer theories as well as evaluation methods will be covered. This course also aims to give an understanding of how 'Training & Development' is integrated into the overall organizational strategy. From an application point of view, students will design, develop, & evaluate their own training programs. Finally, students will develop training skills through conducting training sessions. (Prerequisites: MNGT 215 & ENGL 204)
MNGT 250Z Seminar in Strategic ManagementStrategic Management is the senior capstone course for all business administration majors. What this means is that it is an integrative, big-picture course. In this course, students acquire the tools to apply business fundamental knowledge acquired in previous foundation courses to strategy formulation, implementation, and evaluation/control approaches. Students are required to use this new knowledge, as well as knowledge acquired from other functional area courses such as human resources, marketing, accounting, finance, operations and information technology, to identify current problems and chart the future direction of different businesses and industries.
In sum, through this course, the student culminates his/her undergraduate curriculum through the application of core functional foundation concepts in an integrative way to various business situations. (Prerequisites: BUSS 249, ENGL 204)