MBA Required Courses

This course examines the role of the individual in the organizations from two perspectives. The first perspective looks at the individual and their personal development and includes such topics as personality, attitudes, values, stress management, leadership and organization culture. The second perspective from the organization’s viewpoint, investigates the application of technology to make use of the individual’s intellectual capital. The student will understand how organizations can make better use of their resources by recording, storing and reusing their employees’ knowledge through the implementation of technology-based systems.

Regulatory and Reporting Environments

This course provides exposure to the regulatory and reporting environments that affect contemporary businesses and an overview of current board and governance matters. The course includes an overview of securities regulation, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act with an emphasis on corporate reporting issues, independence, transparency and corporate government analyses.

It will also include a survey of the various legal and regulatory matters facing businesses, corporate communications, workplace equity and overview of the governmental hierarchy with significant influence over business organizations, and a training for board of directors.

The interaction of the business model within various spheres of economic, social, cultural, environmental, political and legal influence will be considered and developed throughout the course, particularly as relevant to current issues presented in the various business media.

Business Enterprise

This course is an application of the USFSP MBA Essentials courses (or their equivalents). The objective of the course is to explicitly address how all of the disciplines play a role in the formation and operation of a business enterprise. Principally, this course applies your knowledge of finance, marketing, management, and accounting in determining how a business enterprise is formed and operated. The course will emphasize pre-business feasibility studies, the start-up of the business enterprise, its successful management, and options for succession or termination.

Organizational Strategies for the 21st Century

The course is intended to provide an integrating opportunity to tie together concepts, principles, and skills useful in strategic management and strategic decision making with issues of ethics and responsibility in organizations in the 21st century. Given the intention to be forward looking, the course materials include a dynamic view of strategy, and a particular focus on ethics and social responsibility (as well as discussion of international and global issues).

The Evolving Global Economic Environment

International business today operates in a vastly more complex environment than it did a generation ago. The changes of even the last few years are dramatic: The rise of newly competitive states such as China and India; the negotiation of NAFTA and the new textile agreement; the expansion of the European Union; continued instability in the international currency markets and the rise of the global internet. These are just some of the changes in the global economic environment. Each presents great challenges – and opportunities – for the international businessperson. The goal of this course is to explain how international business operates in the evolving global economic environment. We will look at the changing pattern of international trade, foreign investment and international competitiveness. We will examine how individual firms, both large multinational corporations and smaller firms are competing in the international environment. And we will explore how the economic, political, social, competition and managerial forces are shaping the emerging global business environment surrounding individual firms. To highlight these changes we will read on international business, money markets, trade politics and trade liberalization.

We will also examine specific countries (such as China, India, Brazil, Russia, Mexico, Poland and Turkey), geographic regions and companies. All students will participate in a group activity in which they analyze the business potential in a specific country. They will be asked to research the country’s economic, social, and business conditions and make recommendations for their industry’s approach to that country.

Creating Community Leaders and Partners

As a final synthesis of core learning, student groups will conduct a strategic stakeholder analysis of an organization in the community.

For-profit and not-for-profit organizations will be invited to present their visions to student groups. The focus for large, profit-driven organizations might be how they could form stronger alliances with the community. Smaller for-profits may be interested in improving their business practices. Not-for-profit organizations might need assistance with improving the business practices, but also with identifying target donors for fundraising, planning a charity even or forging new relationships with the community as a whole.

Students will assume a leadership role by partnering with the organization to produce an in-depth analysis resulting in short-term and long-term plans for achieving the organization's vision. Students will also take a leadership role in providing feedback to the organization, including results of the analysis and an action plan. Depending on the scope of the project, student groups may or may not be involved with implementation and evaluation.