MS in Administrative Studies, Innovation & Technology Concentration

Introduction to the concepts, methods and problems of accounting and financial analysis. Includes accounting principles, measurement and disclosure issues, financial statement analysis, time value of money, cash flow projection and analysis, capital budgeting and project evaluation, bond and equity valuation, cost of capital and capital structure. 4 cr. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Quantitative Reasoning II, Critical Thinking.  [ 4 cr. ]

The course explores modern project management by providing an enterprise- level, experiential view of the discipline focused on connecting projects to the organization's mission, vision, and values. The theme of the course is applying key project management tools and techniques, through case-based group work, which will help students identify, analyze, and develop practical proposals to real-world issues. Groups select, plan, report, and then present on their project's scope, schedule, cost, risk, quality, and communications elements using tools such as the WBS, network diagram, PERT estimate, Gantt chart (including the use of MS Project), risk register, and heat map. Students also gain familiarity with important new concepts in project management: Agile frameworks, actionable sustainability thinking, and Benefits Realization Management, all of which will be important for their success not only in other graduate courses, but as they lead projects for their organizations so as to provide lasting, triple-bottom-line value. The course is aligned with the latest PMBOK? Guide from the Project Management Institute.   [ 4 cr. ]

The course provides a detailed examination of the history of e-commerce, along with important concepts related to the ways that businesses can successfully use Internet and Web technology. Students are introduced to the concepts and problems associated with electronic commerce. Topics include comparison of e-commerce procedures, payment mechanisms, applications in different industry sectors, security, the challenges of starting and maintaining an electronic business site, as well as a comparison with traditional business practices. The development of a WordPress-themed website is a minor feature of the course. 4cr.  [ 4 cr. ]

This course considers macroeconomic factors of relevance to the firm: aggregate economic activity, cyclical movements, and fiscal and monetary policies. The course reviews the problems of decision-making relating to demand, production, costs, market structure, and price, and provides an analysis of the interplay between governments, economic systems, labor, and multinational corporations (MNCs). Topics include: the basis for the existence, organization, and growth of MNCs; a comparison of major economic and government systems; areas include the impact on the firm's business transactions and trade due to taxation, regulation, legal environments and labor influences. This course additionally investigates the relationship between the interaction of national culture and development. Topics range from developing nations' rain forest and species management to pollution generated by developed nations. Culture, policy, and development are also discussed in relation to the impact of the business interactions (agriculture, fishing, technology transfer, etc.) among developing and developed nations.  [ 4 cr. ]

Addresses the specifics of new product and service development and fostering innovation and technology to increase performance. Topics include generating and screening initial ideas; assessing user needs and interests; forecasting results; launching, and improving products and programs; bringing innovation to commercial reality.   [ 4 cr. ]

Examines various approaches to developing high tech innovation based economies as a route to self sufficiency and growth. Factors studied include both structural reforms in the political, legal and economic areas, and government sponsored initiatives in higher education, basic research, private venture capital, grants to support new product development by promising ventures, and the creation of science and technology parks and incubators. Students independently research, write, and present studies of the strategies of various countries. This will be augmented by case studies, reading, and guest speakers on strategies being employed in such countries as Taiwan, Thailand, and Brazil.  [ 4 cr. ]

This course will provide you with the theoretical understanding of the Internet marketplace necessary to adapt to its many changes, while also equipping you with the skills you'll need to perform vital daily functions. The course includes discussions of both B2B and B2C and looks at marketing and communications from an integrated, business-wide perspective. The goal is to appreciate principles and practice of online marketing. Topics include integrated innovative marketing strategy, search engine marketing, email marketing, and social media. 4cr.  [ 4 cr. ]

Includes opportunity assessment and feasibility analysis, concept development, budgeting and financial operations, financial and human resource management, legal and organizational issues analysis, and comprehension and determination of the roles of boards and external advisors, all leading into the planning and operating of new ventures.  [ 4 cr. ]

Examines legal issues that affect high technology firms. Topics include copyright, reverse engineering, trade secrets, patents, international legal differences, the Uniform Commercial Code, and product liability. Cases drawn from high tech industries are used to emphasize current and future developments.   [ 4 cr. ]

Prereq: AD100 Pre-Analytics Laboratory and ADR100 Introduction to R
This course presents fundamental knowledge and skills for applying business analytics to managerial decision-making in corporate environments. Topics include descriptive analytics (techniques for categorizing, characterizing, consolidating, and classifying data for conversion into useful information for the purposes of understanding and analyzing business performance), predictive analytics (techniques for detection of hidden patterns in large quantities of data to segment and group data into coherent sets in order to predict behavior and trends), prescriptive analytics (techniques for identification of best alternatives for maximizing or minimizing business objectives). Students will learn how to use data effectively to drive rapid, precise, and profitable analytics-based decisions. The framework of using interlinked data inputs, analytics models, and decision-support tools will be applied within a proprietary business analytics shell and demonstrated with examples from different functional areas of the enterprise. R, SQL, and Power BI software are used in this course.   [ 4 cr. ]

Provides a market oriented, strategic planning framework to address a broad range of tourism and regional economic and development issues that relate to tourism industry development and growth. The interplay of private, public and government organizations is discuss as they relate to the development of a comprehensive tourism plan. The combination of theory and practice will prepare students to analyze tourism markets, assess area, regional and national weakness and strengths as well as the security, infrastructure/logistics, marketing and costs associated tourism. Topics include: importance of tourism to the economy, developing the tourism strategy, ecotourism, research and analysis, positioning and marketing, funding tourism and developing new attractions.   [ 4 cr. ]

This course will provide students with the analytical tools to analyze, manage, and improve manufacturing, service, and business processes. Coverage includes various options to lower operational costs and improve responsiveness to customers' needs, including operating system design, product & service design, capacity analysis & buffering, waiting line optimization, and process quality analysis using statistical approaches. Quantitative methods include application of stochastic simulation, analysis of random outcomes, statistical analysis routines (confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, machine learning), system reliability analysis, and statistical process control. The Deming philosophy of management, Lean operations principles, and Six Sigma process improvement methodologies form the underlying foundation of the course coverage.  [ 4 cr. ]

This overview course examines the management issues involved with assessing the security and risk environments in both the private and public sectors in order to assure continuous system-wide operations. The course studies the elements of operational and technological risk assessment and operational continuity using a project management framework and quantitative risk metrics. Students are exposed to the role of the firm in crisis response and management as well as the terms, systems, and interactions necessary to assure continuous operations. Topics include: the role and need for comprehensive assurance strategy and planning; information security; an overview of the system-wide structure; the social and emotional impact on the workforce as well as its effect on productivity; and the organizational infrastructure relating to national, regional, and international compliance.   [ 4 cr. ]

Prereq: METAD571
Become familiar with the foundations of modern marketing analytics and develop your ability to select, apply, and interpret readily available data on customer purchase behavior, new customer acquisition, current customer retention, and marketing mix optimization. This course explores approaches and techniques to support the managerial decision-making process and skills in using state-of-the- art statistical and analytics tools. Students will have an opportunity to gain a basic understanding of how transaction and descriptive data are used to construct customer segmentation schemas, build and calibrate predictive models, and quantify the incremental impact of specific marketing actions. Python, R, SQL, and Power BI software are used in this course.   [ 4 cr. ]

The course provides an introduction to the main concepts of Global Responsibility and its impact on management. It addresses many issues surrounding what are commonly referred to as Corporate and Social Responsibility as well as the issues of related sustainability. The course covers topics such as: Marketing, Finance, ethics, Risk Assessment, Communication and Strategy. The course is designed to help understand why corporate social responsibility is important in the public and private sectors and enable students to examine how the organizational can be impacted by CSR.  [ 4 cr. ]

Financial Regulation and Ethics is a course designed to thoroughly review the important topics of financial regulations, policies, and ethics. The course will explore an overview of the financial systems, their history, problems, and issues for the purpose of understanding the enactment of regulations as a method to protect the financial systems and investors. Also, regulators and their authority will be identified, both domestically and internationally.

Ethics, an extremely important aspect of finance will be discussed and explored. Ethics is a difficult topic to define and can be impacted by social norms. During the ethics portion of the course, students will study where ethics have failed and caused major issues for the financial marketplace and individual companies.   [ 4 cr. ]

This course covers the quantitative analysis tools to support operations management for a supply chain that is geographically dispersed and culturally diverse. The tools necessary to assure that the products/services are delivered/provided in the quality and timely manner include demand forecasting, inventory and capacity buffer optimization, delayed differentiation, statistical risk pooling, and stochastic inventory optimization. These tools are applied to decisions such as offshoring, multi-country outsourcing, push-pull, reverse supply chains, and risk mitigation. Particular attention is given to sustainability, information technology and digitalization, and creating resiliency.  [ 4 cr. ]

This course covers quantitative approaches to logistics management. It teaches network optimization techniques and center gravity models for location analysis, mathematical programming for selecting the optimal transportation modality, statistical distributions for modeling the statistical uncertainty around the arrivals of trucks to a warehouse or a store, and inventory modeling for optimizing distribution centers. The course introduces mathematical models for warehouse layout decisions, learning curve models, and logistics network design in the context of today's increasingly digitalized supply networks.  [ 4 cr. ]

The purpose of this course is to help improve business problem solving and managerial decision-making through the use of quantitative and qualitative decision-making tools and techniques. This course will provide the student with an overview of how decisions are made to solve management problems in the business environment. It introduces the fundamental concepts and methodologies of the decision-making process, problem-solving, decision analysis, data collection, probability distribution, evaluation, and prediction methods. Students will learn how to apply different quantitative and qualitative analytical tools commonly used in business to provide a depth of understanding and support to various decision-making activities within each subject area of management. Through the use of case studies of decisions made by managers in various production and service industries and a business simulation package specifically prepared for this course, the scope and breadth of decision-making in business will be described.  [ 4 cr. ]

Prereq: MET AD630, MET AD731
A review of the legal and regulatory issues that govern the financial industry. The course reviews SEC regulations as well as the financial legal environments that affect the financial system, the operations of financial firms and protect shareholders and company employees. The course provides a historical context in which the legal and regulatory systems have evolved and relates that history to today's complex financial environment.  [ 4 cr. ]

A communications skills course designed to better understand the nature of conflict and its resolution through persuasion, collaboration, and negotiation. Students will learn theories of interpersonal and organizational conflict and its resolution as applied to personal, corporate, historical, and political contexts. Students will assess their own styles, skills, and values, and develop techniques to better resolve disputes, achieve objectives, and exert influence.   [ 4 cr. ]

What does it mean to be a good leader? Can key elements of good leadership be identified? This dynamic course will start with an exploration of traditional and contemporary models of leadership, leadership development and management training. From there, participants will assess their own personal skills, preferences, aptitude and readiness to confront the challenges of leadership through a series of exercises, simulations and hands-on activities. Key elements of leadership, such as visiting, communicating, decision-making, team building and motivating will be studied and practiced. This course combines a thorough review of the theoretical aspects of leadership with the opportunity for "real world" applications through experiential learning.  [ 4 cr. ]

Using case studies and lectures, this course focuses on developing appropriate market mix strategies and sound competitive analysis for the goods and services industries. Emphasis is placed on understanding consumers' needs and wants, the competitive environment, effective market communications, and proper positioning techniques.   [ 4 cr. ]

The course explores the issues that managers face when attempting to get work accomplished through other individuals or teams as they arise in organizations that employ numerous professionals and that emphasize innovation in their products, services, and internal processes. The relationship between individuals, organizations and the larger social context is studied. Focus Topics include: motivation, incentive systems, team and work flow management. The course discusses management techniques, effective verbal and nonverbal communication methods and negotiation skills as they pertain to the different aspects of managing individuals or teams. Successful managers have developed the ability to understand the nature of conflict and its resolution through persuasion, collaboration, and negotiation. Students will learn theories of interpersonal and organizational conflict and its resolution as applied in personal, corporate, historical, and political contexts.  [ 4 cr. ]

Prereq: MET AD731
Provides an analysis of the economics of innovation and the means by which firms secure the necessary capital to begin or expand operations. Procedures for raising venture capital through investment institutions and individuals are discussed.  [ 4 cr. ]

Reviews the process whereby organizations establish and pursue goals within internal and external constraints, resources, and opportunities. Topics include strategy and tactics; the process of strategic choice and adjustment; resource assessment; environmental and competitor analysis; stakeholders and values; and strategy implementation, control, and valuation.   [ 4 cr. ]

Topics include, the shift toward international service economies, the increasingly large service component in "non-service" industries, integrating service in the development of products and the critical role employees play in delivering service quality.   [ 4 cr. ]

MET AD 748 Addresses special characteristics of the life science and medical fields that affect the process of turning new technologies and innovative approaches into successful useful products and services, in such areas as gene therapy, diagnostics, and pharmaceuticals, medical imaging systems and artificial hearts, computer/internet based ?health care management information systems?, telemedicine, and bio-informatics/ genomic research tools. Emphasizes development of skills in assessing complex markets and devising useful ?business models? for cost effective commercialization and reduced time to market. Cases, readings, guest lectures, and group projects involving developing original commercialization plans and/or consulting to startup and established companies on these issues.   [ 4 cr. ]

Provides the student with an understanding of different legal systems as they relate to international business transactions. The seminar builds the analytical skills required to evaluate legal processes, law, and legislation-related events in international business dealings.   [ 4 cr. ]

This course provides extensive insight into international trade practices and corporate decision-making criteria attendant to global import/export and other market entry strategies, and management of international logistics operations including global sourcing, global transportation, facility network design, intermediaries, and trade documentation. Topics include operations, government agencies, import/export channel networks, and the evaluation of international opportunities with the help of a business simulation package specifically prepared for this course. It is designed to provide students with the skills and tools necessary for international trade and international logistics management.   [ 4 cr. ]

Introduces the student to the contemporary word of international business through an examination of the social, cultural, economic, ecological and commercial aspects that impact global operations. Emphasis is on both the thorough understanding of the effect that international business has on the different functional aspects of the enterprise as well as the manner in which firms organize, operate and formulate strategies in order to maximize their chances of successful operations.  [ 4 cr. ]

Through the use of an international business simulation, students develop the ability to manage in the shifting international environment by integrating finance, strategy, and marketing skills to expand their company globally. By selling, exporting, or manufacturing in up to fourteen countries the simulation is intended to provide the student with a "real life" approach to international expansion, environmental stability, inflation and currency issues, financial operations as well as international sales and manufacturing issues. The objective of the course is to offer an overview of the factors affecting global business operations in a stimulating learning environment that is enjoyable and challenging. Intensive course.  [ 4 cr. ]

Those in leadership and managerial positions are often confronted with difficult decisions that have far-reaching implications and the ability to balance competing social and ethical values. This practical course explores different ways of approaching challenging ethical dilemmas through theories, cases, contemporary issues, and exercises -- and in the context of various cultures and business and organizational settings. 4 cr.  [ 4 cr. ]

Historical background of the judicial system. The principles of law as they relate to business transactions; law of contracts, sales, agency, and property; legal aspects of business organizations; creation, corporate structure, and dissolution; securities, regulation, antitrust and labor laws.  [ 4 cr. ]

Strategy concerns the long-term direction, scope and performance of an organization within its specific context. While senior managers are normally responsible for strategic planning, the implementation of strategy is most effective if managers at all levels ensure that their actions, performance goals, resource applications, etc. are aligned with the efforts of other functions and departments, and with the major strategic orientation of the firm. This module aims to develop critical understandings and insights about strategy and strategic management at the business unit level.  [ 4 cr. ]

This course will provide a comprehensive discussion of market and economic research and analysis, their key concepts, process description, qualitative and quantitative techniques for market research and data analysis, and application scenarios. Students will gain an appreciation for some of the breadth and depth of this subject and its significance for the business enterprise -- both from start-up entrepreneurship as well as an established business organization. The structure of the course is based on the six steps of the market research process: problem definition, development of an approach to the problem; research design formulation; fieldwork and data collection; data preparation and qualitative and quantitative analysis; report preparation, and presentation.   [ 4 cr. ]