Management Studies

• QST MS 600: MSMS Launch
  This experience introduces incoming students to the program structure, faculty, staff, and expectations. Via team-based activities, students gain an understanding of the curriculum, classmates, Boston University and Boston. Students are exposed to the value of and need for international intelligence, ethics, diversity and resources available to support these.
• QST MS 715: Customers and Markets
  Although these activities could be considered components of marketing, this course takes the point of view that marketing is fundamentally about driving growth. No matter how we measure this growth (in terms of volume sold, revenues, or profits), it always starts with an understanding of how to create value for the customer. The most successful organizations understand that identifying, producing, delivering and capturing value is a strategic practice on which an enterprise thrives or dies. With so much on the line, growth cannot be relegated merely to the marketing department; it is a mindset to be embraced across the organization. This course provides students with an opportunity to deepen your understanding of the ever-changing world of marketing. It presents advanced concepts marketers in all companies are dealing with to grow their business.
• QST MS 716: Financial Decision Making
  Finance is concerned with the efficient allocation of capital, maximizing operational cash flows and the management of financial risk. Capital is said to be efficiently allocated when the risk/return profile of the investment is in line with investor preferences with respect to risk, time and expected return. This course includes the basics of investment analysis: time-value of money, portfolio theory, risk-return tradeoffs and capital budgeting. Time-value of money refers to the valuation of differing values of expected cash flows across time and accounts for differing levels of expected risk. Portfolio theory refers to the optimization of the weights of investments such that the portfolio outperforms the average of the investments. This is accomplished through the minimization of unnecessary risk. Capital budgeting refers to the process of capital allocation within the business (by managers) such that the financial performance of the firm is maximized.
• QST MS 735: Consult Prjct A
  
• QST MS 739: Client Consulting Project C
  The project uses a mentored team structure to analyze, investigate and deliver value for a company client. The focus will be on identifying challenges and opportunities for organizational change and identifying key recommendations for leadership into an uncertain future.
• QST MS 741: Business Context and Strategy
  This course introduces students to issues associated with formulating and implementing business strategy. It draws on findings from various academic disciplines (e.g., economics, organization theory, sociology, accounting, and management policy) to build a fundamental understanding of how and why some firms achieve and sustain superior performance. Readings and cases lead towards understanding of the underlying economics affecting a firm's external and internal environments and the implications of these fundamental factors for affecting the practice of strategy design. The course is designed to challenge students both inside and outside of the classroom. A business simulation provides a key experiential means for students to apply strategy concepts to the operations of a virtual business
• QST MS 742: Financial Reporting and Analysis
  "If you can measure it, you can manage it" is an axiom of management. Accounting is the language of business measurement, the means by which business describes what they do, why they do it, and the value that it generates. In this course, you will be introduced to this language via financial statements: corporate reports, balance sheets, earnings and cash flow analyses, along with CVP-based analysis and decision making.
• QST MS 743: Quantitative Methods for Management Decisions
  This course introduces students to statistics and probability, the means by which we analyze customers, markets, firms, industries...any and all aspects of the business experience. The goal is to teach students tools and techniques for analyzing data with an appreciation for the theory underpinning such analyses. How do we collect and analyze data in an unbiased manner?
• QST MS 744: People, Teams, and Organizations
  This course examines how teams function, how individuals within those teams operate, and how team members can deal with the sometimes tricky dynamics of working with others. The course is largely experiential, and involves individual introspection, one-on-one interactions with others, group exercises, and class discussion.
• QST MS 745: Career and Executive Skills A
  This course introduces students to the key skills professionals need to effectively communicate in complex business environments. In the fast-moving digital age, business leaders must be able to quickly and effectively research and synthesize information and data that is more accessible than ever, to articulate a position or recommendations clearly, concisely, and persuasively. At the end of this interactive four-module course, students will demonstrate proficiency in: key foundations of successful business writing; presentation skills; critical reasoning frameworks; synthesis of data and information; the use of reputable sources; effective visual aid design; producing persuasive "slidedocs." Students will start with career exploration and development of an understanding of their skills, interests, and values.
• QST MS 746: Managing Operations
  Operations Management is concerned with the efficient and effective transformation of inputs into outputs. Some examples of inputs are materials, labor, land, capital, time, information and management. Outputs include products, services or information that customers need. Value is added only when the output meets the needs of customers, both internal and external. This course includes process analysis and improvement, inventory and supply chain management, and operations strategy. Process analysis comprises skills and techniques that enable managers to design and manage work processes within the organization to achieve both efficient use of resources and effective performance outcomes. Inventory and supply chain management elevates process analysis to an inter-firm level, enabling managers to deliver better services more quickly and at lower cost. Operations strategy links the value-adding activities of the organization to its overall strategy.
• QST MS 747: Project Management and Control
  In this course, students will learn how to use the concepts, tools and techniques of project management in order to successfully manage projects. System development project failures are generally failures of management, not failures of technology. Good management, along with an understanding of the appropriate use of technology, is therefore essential. Students will learn how to apply the concepts, tools and techniques of project management in today's dynamic, digital business environment, where projects must be brought to completion under increasingly compressed timeframes and where decisions must be made under conditions of uncertainty
• QST MS 749: Exec Comms A
  
• QST MS 751: Corporate Strategy and Decision-making
  This course introduces students to issues associated with formulating corporate strategy. It draws on findings from various academic disciplines (e.g., economics, organization theory, sociology, accounting, and management policy) to build a fundamental understanding of how firms choose the businesses in which they operate, considerations for geographic expansion, and how technology interplays with strategy. Readings and cases lead towards understanding the underlying economics affecting a firm's external and internal environments and the implications of these fundamental factors for affecting the practice of strategy design. The course is designed to challenge students both inside and outside of the classroom, and to inform their consulting project.
• QST MS 753: Negotiation and Conflict Management
  This course explores the skills strategies and tactics of both collaborative and competitive negotiations. In addition, we look at team negotiations, multi-party negotiations, agency, stakeholder analysis, preparation, and conflict resolution. The course is largely experiential, and involves individual introspection, one-on-one interactions with others, group exercises, and class discussion
• QST MS 754: Corporate Finance
  Continues to introduce the basic principles, methods, and challenges of modern finance. Covers topics such as cost of capital, capital structure, agency theory, equity issuance, debt issuance, and performance measurement. The material is examined from the perspective of students preparing to use finance theory as managers, to support decision making, capital allocation and planning, and to measure, evaluate, and reward performance. Emphasizes the relationships between finance theory and other organizational activities (such as operations, marketing and project management).
• QST MS 756: Leadership and Change Management
  The focus of this course is on leadership from a variety of perspectives: organizational leadership in the external environment, as well as leadership at the top, middle, and lower levels inside organizations. We look leadership from a behavioral, emotional intelligence, and situational point of view, developing students' awareness, mindset, and skills in the process. In addition, we explore the challenges, theories, and skills of change management.
• QST MS 757: Innovation and Entrepreneurship
  This course introduces students to the innovation processes, such as design thinking, and various types and models of innovation. Students will learn current approaches to developing value for innovators, companies, societies, and economies through entrepreneurship. The course will explore various contexts for innovation and entrepreneurship, including new ventures, mature companies, and foreign market entry.
• QST MS 758: Special Topics
  Based on a survey of the student cohort, current and emerging topics most relevant to MSMS students will be presented. Given student backgrounds and career interests, topics such as Lean Six Sigma and Social Media Marketing, in addition to critical managerial topics such as Ethics, are presented.
• QST MS 759: Career and Executive Skills D
  Students will demonstrate proficiency in: key foundations of successful business writing; presentation skills; critical reasoning frameworks; synthesis of data and information; the use of reputable sources; effective visual aid design; producing persuasive "slidedocs". Students will learn techniques for evaluating job offers and negotiating salaries, along with techniques and skills for being successful in their first job. Students will learn strategies for managing their reputation and establishing critical relationships both vertically and horizontally within the organization.

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