Graduate Catalog - Shippensburg University

Shippensburg UniversityBusiness Administration (MBA)MBA502 Managerial Accounting (3 crs.)Develops an understanding of the quantitative use of accounting datafor decision making within the firm. The focus is on developing anunderstanding of and appropriate use of cost in managerial decisionmaking. Although the appropriate use of cost in this course refersprimarily to short-term decisions, the strategic implications of costanalysis are also addressed.MBA529 Global Managerial Finance (3 crs.)Explores basic financial theories, their application, and financialdecision models necessary for handling complex corporate financialproblems in the global environment. Emphasizes the important roleof finance in the global business operations.MBA532 Marketing Research (3 crs.)Investigate how all types of business research is conducted as well asdetermining the quality and validity of research reports and findings.Business research is an important management tool that exertsa major influence on decision making. It provides insights into andsolutions for organizational problems. The pedagogy will be appliedand real world. Extensive use of cases and actual business problemswill be utilized. Finally, greater emphasis on using the power of theInternet and computer software to conduct business research will beemployed.MBA533 Business Operations and Logistics Planning (3 crs.)Introduces students to scope and variety of logistics operations asthey pertain to transforming resources into goods and services. Topicsinclude demand forecasting, planning for logistics operations,resource management, production and service delivery strategies, andquality assurance.MBA534 Buyer Behavior (3 crs.)Primary goal is to enhance student’s understanding of customerbehavior and ultimate goal is for student to develop effective marketingtechniques. Includes consumer psychology as well as its relevancefor marketing researchers and managers. Presents a comprehensive,systematic, and conceptual framework for understanding people asconsumers and organizational buyers. Makes heavy use of modelsfrom psychology and social psychology. Topics such as demographics,lifestyle, information processing, motivation, social influence, brandloyalty, attitude measurement and change, and decision-makingare studied. Other topics may include cross-cultural differences incustomer behavior, ethics, and the impact of technology on customerbehavior.=MBA547 Management Information Systems and Applications (3 crs.)Designed to provide a managerial overview of the role of informationsystems in the business environment, the roles, and responsibilitiesof those involved, and the potential future trends in informationtechnology and their implications on the business world. Informationis a powerful resource and information systems (IS) are used inalmost every business function within every industry. Knowledge ofinformation and how it flows within processes is an essential elementof success in virtually any position. While not everyone in businessneeds to be an IS professional with detailed technical expertise; everyoneneeds an in depth understanding of the subject to know howto use and manage IS in his or her profession.MBA548 IT Management and Innovation (3 crs.)Examines frameworks, concepts, practices, and examples that helpbusiness managers understand the value of IT and generate businessvalue from investments in IT and its complimentary businessresources. Topics include strategic alignment of IT with organizationalgoals, organizational efficiency and transformation enabled byIT, organizational learning and innovation enabled by IT, positioningand managing of the IT function, IT and sustainability. Uses lecture,projects, case studies. Also examines from business perspectivesystems and technologies that help companies innovate and deliverbusiness value such as business analytics, cloud computing, enterpriseresource planning, customer relationship management, and supplychain systems.MBA552 Entrepreneurship (3 crs.)Examines all aspects of starting a new business, with emphasis on thecritical role of recognizing and assessing opportunities. Topics includeattributes of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial careers, creating andevaluating opportunities, writing business plans, and financing newventures.MBA554 International Business (3 crs.)Presents broad view of issues facing professionals in the internationalbusiness area. Topics are broad and include international trade, exchangerates, finance, organizational structure, and international legaldimensions. Student learns to weave the social, technical, cultural,risk and human relations factors into a global context.MBA556 Organizational Leadership (3 crs.)Examines the leadership and influence issues managers face. Attentionis given to leading up, down, and across the organization, recognizingleadership is not limited to managers. Through guest businessspeakers, cases, readings, projects, and simulations, students gaingreater insight and skill in leading. Topics include characteristics ofeffective leaders, power and influence strategies, crisis management,organizational politics, and leadership assessment.MBA557 Negotiation (3 crs.)Designed to provide students with skills needed to approach negotiationand bargaining situations with confidence. This includes providingframeworks for the analysis conflict and its origins, knowledgeabout one’s own tendencies in negotiation, and a chance to experimentwith negotiating techniques in a variety of contexts. Topicsinclude: integrative and distributive negotiations, individual differencesin bargaining styles, coalitions, team negotiations, negotiatingthrough agents, and ethical issues in negotiation. Course content isdelivered through readings, cases, and lecture, however, considerableemphasis is placed on in- and outside class negotiation simulationsand subsequent classroom discussion.MBA558 Ethics and Sustainability (3 crs.)A combined conceptual and application course. Explores the variousconcepts of business ethics, social responsibility, corporate citizenshipand sustainability. Specifically examines stakeholder theories,environmental and social concerns, criticisms of capitalism as wellas specific ethical and social issues that apply to the various businessfields including employee relations, marketing, operations, financeand accounting. Explores the application of these concepts to variousbusiness cases.MBA561 Human Resources and Development (3 crs.)Examines essential cutting-edge organizational strategies and practicesthat enable leaders/managers to implement effective employmentteam environments by attracting, deploying, and retainingproficient employees within the context of appropriate federal/statelegal employment regulations. Topics may include legal regulationof the employment relationship, work flows, staffing, employeeseparations, performance appraisals, training and career development,compensation, employee rights, employee and labor relations, andglobal HR issues.MBA565 Information Management and Analysis for Decision Making(3 crs.)Provides skills and tools necessary for managers to efficiently solveproblems using information technology to support the decision makingprocess. Using a variety of software packages, structured, semistructuredand unstructured problems will be analyzed and the role ofinformation technology investigated. Models based on quantitativeand non-quantitative data will be studied also.74