MS in Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Strategy Concentration

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; and overall bringing innovation from ideation to commercialization.  [ 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. ]

Graduate Prerequisites: MET AD741 - 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. ]

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. ]

Provides analysis of the economics of innovation and the means by which firms secure the necessary capital to begin or expand operations. The students learn different procedures for raising venture capital through investment institutions and individuals.  [ 4 cr. ]

Undergraduate Prerequisites: METAD 642 - Prereq AD 642. This course will introduce students to Project Value - a unique perspective on classical Project Management that is focused on assuring that a project delivers value that is aligned with the mission, vision, and values of an organization. This increasingly popular framework with which to view projects and project management is derived from current research, standards, and thought leadership from PMI and other international bodies. Students will learn how to create value in projects even in today's disruptive, turbulent environment. They will learn how to apply the conceptual framework of benefits realization management (BRM) and to use tools to manage a portfolio of programs and projects strategically with an aim of sustainable project value. Value in Agile projects will be discussed. The element of the Triple Bottom Line and a focus on sustainability is part of the subject matter. Case studies and real life experiences, illustrated with guest lectures, will be intertwined with current research in project management.  [ 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. ]

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. ]

This course examines the increasing importance of leadership and communications in projects. Since project outcomes and the delivery of value are accomplished through teams of people, the course aims to improve the capability of a project manager to become a project leader and to excel at motivating and inspiring their teams. Students begin by gaining a better understanding of their own social, leadership, and communications styles. Self-awareness is key to the course. We investigate motivation, conflict management, negotiation skills, and the Agile principles of stewardship and servant leadership. Grounded in the use of tools, the course will provide students with templates to enhance team collaboration and communication. The course also addresses more contemporary issues in PM, including resolving ambiguity and complexity, the use of improvised working styles, sustainable PM, and issues around power and politics within the project.  [ 4 cr. ]

Prerequisite: METAD100 Pre-Analytics Laboratory. 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. ]

This course is designed to help you understand how marketing has (and has not) changed due to the rise of social media and changes in various underlying contextual factors, such as dramatically increased speed of information dissemination across consumers and brands. The overarching goal is to obtain a clear perspective on digital/social/mobile marketing so that you can appreciate its true value to consumers, to managers, and to other corporate stakeholders. It will equip you with the relevant knowledge, perspectives, and practical skills required to develop marketing strategies that leverage the opportunities inherent in social media and consumer-to-consumer social interactions for achieving business and marketing goals.  [ 4 cr. ]

The course introduces basic business concepts in biomedical, biotech, and health information technology entrepreneurship. It provides hands-on experience in creating, proposing, and justifying a business model for a healthcare or a biotech startup. Foundational study and research of entrepreneurship, business models, international healthcare systems, and innovation compose the first three modules of the course. For the final two modules, students work in teams to propose founder roles, business ideas, and analysis leading to a business plan. After providing market needs and competitive analysis of proposals, they visualize and assess overall business models, including strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis. Finally, they present their business models, including the empathy map and the canvas blocks, defending their business proposal.  [ 4 cr. ]

Prerequisite: MET AD 610 - Discover how leading organizations manage a wide array of technology-related threats and vulnerabilities, ranging from routine outages and operational errors to infrastructure breakdowns and systems failures - right up to significant data breaches, denial of service and ransomware attacks. You will review principles of technology resilience and its role within the organizational enterprise risk management structure. From there, the greater technology risk landscape is evaluated, the importance of governance and compliance are reinforced, and the infrastructure and processes necessary for organizations to effectively manage technology-related incidents are examined. The course also includes an examination of how enterprises transition from incident management to technology recovery, and how leading companies design and implement cybersecurity and privacy programs.  [ 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. ]

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. ]

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. ]

Prerequisites: Six completed program courses. An extensive research project culminating in a written paper and oral defense. Research is conducted under intensive faculty supervision. Requires department approval and thesis supervisor from full-time faculty.  [ Var cr. ]

Prerequisites: MET AD 800. The second course of an extensive research project culminating in a written paper and oral defense. Research is conducted under intensive faculty supervision. Requires department approval and thesis supervisor from full-time faculty.  [ Var cr. ]