Business Course Descriptions

BU 520 Advanced Business Strategy (3)
Considers operational, financial, policy and strategy issues using the perspective of a General Manager of a firm. The course will help the student gain a strategic view of organizations through the use of case studies and computer simulations. Students will be required to do on-line research on current business problems, analyze situations and propose solutions. This course will utilize the analytical skills acquired during the student’s academic and professional business career including: writing a strategic/business plan,
forecasting, modeling and financial analysis.

BU 525 Advanced Auditing (3)
Explains auditor’s role in a changing corporate environment. Analyzes case studies in relation to established auditing standards. Introduces auditing pronouncements and reference materials. Addresses ethical obligations to one’s profession and the public.

BU 537 Financial Management (3)
An overview of the financial principles guiding decision makers in a corporate setting. Topics include cash flow analysis, time value of money, security pricing, portfolio management, capital budgeting, firm cost of capital, and capital structures.

BU 620 Executive Business Communications (3)
Provides practical experience in executive level communication techniques required in today's business environment. Students will write workplans, reports, proposals and recommendations. Emphasis will be placed on utilizing the internet and other information gathering technologies. Word processing, desktop publishing, presentation and graphic computer applications will be utilized. Application of techniques to produce effective oral communications such as presentations, speeches, television interviews, etc. are analyzed and critiqued.

BU 622 Nonprofit Law, Governance and Financial Management (3)
Introduction to the nonprofit sector. The legal foundation of nonprofit corporations, including secular and religious organizations. Basic issues of governance. Financial aspects of nonprofits including accounting and financial fundamentals, including financial statements, budgeting, and cash flow. The course will include project work that relates to specific types of nonprofits organizations such as parishes, charities, and other forms.

BU 625 Accounting for Managers (3)
Overview of accounting as a management tool. Utilizes business data for decision making and financial planning. Provides overview of manufacturing accounting control systems and cost systems. Topics include valuation of assets, distribution costs, and effective methods of profitability analysis and control.

BU 627 Financial Statement Analysis (3)
The objective is to provide students with the skills necessary for analyzing financial statements. This course will help students enhance their understanding of the accounting process and develop an ability to interpret financial information. Topics include ratio analysis, cash flows, inventories, and off balance sheet activities. Valuation models will also be discussed. Special emphasis will be placed on the effect of accounting principles on reported results.

BU 628 Marketing, Public Relations and Administration in Nonprofit Organizations (3)
Covers the marketing, communications, public relations, risk management and human resources aspects of the nonprofit organization. Volunteer recruitment and management. Special emphasis will be placed on smaller entities such as parishes and other community-focused entities.

BU 630 Governmental Accounting (3)
Studies basic accounting concepts and reporting requirements for governmental and non-profit organizations. Emphasis will be given to state and local government accounting, federal government accounting, and accounting for colleges and universities.

BU 632 Federal Taxation: Corporations, Estates, Trusts (3)
Introduction to tax related problems in corporations, partnerships, estates, trusts and exempt entities. Topics to include types of entities, formation of entities, entity structural considerations, tax planning, and working with the US Tax Law.

BU 633 Organizational Behavior for Managers (3)
Reviews the classical and modern approaches as a framework to understand the management process. Topics covered include the new team structure, a manager v. a leader, the role of leadership, selection and staffing issues, motivation, problem solving techniques, the importance of innovation, and using intuition in the decision making process.

BU 635 Strategic Human Resources Management (3)
This survey course is designed to provide the line manager or staff specialist with an expanded understanding of the processes which management utilizes today to ensure that the right number/quality of persons are being hired, that appropriate governmental regulations are being adhered to, and that the internal policies provide a work environment which encourages cost-competitive labor costs and maximum worker satisfaction.

BU 637 Issues in Nonprofit Management (3)
Explores in detail the critical areas of development, fund raising and grant writing, board deployment and recruitment. Examines the role of nonprofits in public policy and the interaction between nonprofits and the public sector.

BU 638 Marketing in a Dynamic Environment (3)
Explains the marketing management process: identifying marketing opportunities, researching and selecting target markets, designing the marketing mix (product or service, price, distribution, and promotional strategies), and planning, implementing, and controlling the marketing effort. Strategic managerial decision making that harmonizes the firm’s objectives and resources with needs and opportunities in the marketplace. Emphasis on ethics and the utilization of new media and information technologies in strategic marketing.

BU 640 Cyber Law (3)
Focuses on the needs of business managers to have a basic legal understanding of the issues that effect the on-line international business environment. Covers the ethical, political, and international issues as well as a main focus on technology as it relates to business. Practical applications will be used to understand such legal issues jurisdiction; copyrights; trademarks; internet taxation; securities transactions; consumer privacy; obscenity; defamation; internet information security in a networked environment; internet crime;
on-line contracting; and international organizations and regulations that affect international e-commerce. Emphasis will be placed on using current, news-making events for case study analysis.

BU 641 Travel Experience: Global Issues (3)
Consists of specific global business topics which will form the focus of an international study trip. With globalization taking on a greater priority in business management, this course will be tailored to particular contemporary developments in the field of international business. Possible issues for consideration include: regional economic integration (e.g. European Union, NAFTA); implications of globalization (business practices, cultural, social and labor issues, World Trade Organization policy); international trade and development trends (foreign direct investment, offshore manufacturing, tourism development); and international market structures (transition economies, Third World economies) as well as other aspects of international business management and culture.

BU 642 Global Strategy (3)
This course focuses on the opportunities and risks of the complex environment of international business, with an emphasis on the unique problems involved in managing international operations. Main topics include foreign economic, political, legal, and cultural environments; international market analysis; foreign exchange; foreign direct investment; foreign trade; risk management; international human resource management.

BU 647 Effective Innovation (3)
This course discusses types of innovation – product, process, and business model; incremental to radical– and explores the necessity of innovation, the consequences of the failure to innovate, and models of successful innovation and the conditions which foster them, as well as the reverse. With this background students will learn how to unleash creativity, determine a strategic direction for innovation, seat a culture of innovation by mastering the process of leading and managing the innovation process in a business, and establish innovation metrics and an appropriate reward system.

BU 649 Business Law, Ethical Behavior and Social Responsibility (3)
Examines, in a global context, the relevant issues surfacing in today’s business environment such as employee rights and contracts, equal rights, the social-legal-political context of workforce diversity, antitrust, negotiations, labor and management relations, the legal environment, dealing with internal and external interest groups, etc. Examines from a global perspective, cases of unethical and socially
irresponsible behavior displayed by business people and corporations, and deduces a methodology that promotes an ethical and socially responsible sensitivity in the student. Issues such as environmental pollution, exploitation of workers, value erosion, accounting theft and the morality of cost benefit analysis, whistle blowing, philanthropy, and the evaluation of corporate social performance will be studied.

BU 660 Management Information Systems (3)
Examines the use of computers to solve management problems. Course reviews current technologies available for large and small business relating to forecasting, customer service software, decision support software, project management, scheduling, desktop publishing, multimedia, and the Internet.

BU 661 Business Forecasting (3)
A complete analysis of forecasting methods used in business. Topics include naive forecasting methods (past data), survey methods of forecasting, barometric or indicator forecasts, opportunistic forecasting, input-output analysis, simple and multiple regression analysis, etc.

BU 685 Applied Human Relations in Organizations (3)
Examines factors leading to effective and ineffective relationships in organizations with a particular emphasis on leadership. Explores current theories and research into the field while evaluating them analytically and experientially.

BU 690 Business Research Methods (3)
An overview of research and statistical methods used in business. Topics include: Foundation of Scientific Reasoning, Designing a Research Project, Statistical Tools of Research, and Computer Utilization of Research. Prerequisite: At least 12 graduate business credits from core courses.

BU 694 Managerial Economics (3)
This course emphasizes the application of macroeconomic and microeconomic theory in management decision-making and in the development and implementation of business strategy and tactics. The course focuses on techniques and models for monitoring and analyzing macroeconomic conditions; international economic trends; and the production, cost, and pricing decision of firms under different market structures.

BU 695 Operations Management (3)
Decision making in the management of production and service operations. Primary focus on the role of quantitative, analytical and computational techniques in the modeling, analysis, and solution of these problems. Applications using operations management software emphasized.

BU 699 Independent Study (3)
Offers qualified students the opportunity to engage in original research or intensive study in selected areas of business/accounting not covered by the curriculum under the guidance of department faculty. By permission only. (A grade point average of 3.5 and the completion of 15 graduate credits are required to qualify.)

BU 720 Graduate Thesis/Research Project (3)
Under the direction of a faculty advisor, the student will apply the elements of research methodology, statistical techniques to an established manuscript format to develop an independent issue and/or research project in the area of business. The issue and/or research project will be presented in both oral and written form. Prerequisite: BU 690.

BU 785 Integrated Strategic Management Seminar (3)
Drawing upon information and skills learned in previous MBA courses, the Seminar requires the student to integrate and process all that has been covered in the previous courses. Strategic management cases, or typically comprehensive computer-oriented management games are employed. These involve the totality of an organization’s situation at a certain time, are unstructured, and require a significant amount of time to research and diagnose in order to make realistic long-range recommendations. Capstone—requires permission of graduate advisor. Prerequisite: 24 graduate business credits, including BU 690.